


Tequila Sunrise

by Starwinder042653



Series: Bingo Fics [4]
Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2019-10-12 18:03:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 79,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17472341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starwinder042653/pseuds/Starwinder042653
Summary: Drinking leads to a surprise for Vin and Ezra.





	1. Tequila Sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> Has anyone else noticed that if you write Vin Ezra you have Inez in the middle?
> 
> V*In ez*ra?

Written for Mag7Bingo,

Prompt used:

Alcohol, Whiskey, Tequila

Vin and Ezra wake up to a surprise. 

This was originally posted to the bingo site as three separate short stories, because they were not all written at once. If you've read it before and it's not exactly how you remember it, I've done a bit of editing since there may be a new story in this AU later on. I've often thought about continuing it and I have a pretty clear plot line for the next story in my head. I'll have to get it down on paper and think about it some more so let me know if you'd like to see more of this AU. 

**********************************

"Unnngghhh…." Vin Tanner awoke at the first crack of dawn as always but this morning he was in no mood to get up. 

His mouth felt like some small furry animal had crawled inside and died and his head felt like it just might explode if he tried to raise it off of the pillow it was lying on. 

At least the pillow was soft. Felt like one a' Ez's down ones. Bed was soft, too. Must be in Ez's room.

He sighed. He was glad he didn't have patrol and usually not having patrol and waking up with Ez meant they'd be gettin' up ta something soon as Ez woke up but not this morning. Much as he loved Ez, he wasn't gonna be up to doing anything any time soon.

He registered the warm body snuggled against him and the head resting on his shoulder.

Sighing again, he reached up to run his fingers through Ez's hair.

He stroked his fingers through the long hair trailing across his chest.

Long hair? Long Hair!

His eyes popped open and he sat bolt upright, dumping the person beside him off his chest and looking around in a panic, his heart beating wildly.

He jumped out of bed, stumbling as a whiskey bottle rolled under his foot, and backed towards the door.

Blinking to clear his vision, he frowned. This was Ezra's room and….

Ezra sat up on the bed, "Vin?" he mumbled without opening his eyes. "Wha's wrong?"

Vin continued to stare at the bed, "Ez? How much did we have to drink last night?"

"Don' kno'. Why?"

"Open yer eyes."

"What?"

"Open yer eyes."

Why?" Ezra asked, his brow furrowing in puzzlement, but still not opening his eyes

"Ez, just, open yer eyes," Vin repeated in a hoarse whisper.

Ezra opened his eyes and a second later was standing on the other side of the bed staring at it just like Vin was.

"Oh, Lord!" he gasped wide-eyed, "Oh, Dear Lord! Inez!"

"Yeah. Ya reckon that we…?" Vin kind waved a hand between himself and Ezra, then towards Inez where she lay on the bed.

Ezra glared at him then moved close enough to the bed to lift the covers and peep under them. He groaned then said, "She's naked. You're naked. I'm naked. So, I'd have to say that based on the evidence, yes, we did."

"Is she all right?"

Ezra moved close enough to the bed to brush the hair off Inez's face and hold his hand cupped under her nose.

"She is breathing." He tapped her face lightly. "It seems, however that she is passed out." 

"What're we gonna do?"

"Deal with it," Ezra said a lot more calmly than he felt.

He bent over and picked up an empty bottle of tequila from the floor and set it on the bedside table. Glancing at the dresser he saw his bottle of brandy sitting there and noted that it was almost empty.

Vin picked up the whiskey bottle he'd tripped on and held it up before sitting it on the dresser next to the brandy bottle.

"Good Lord," Ezra groaned. "Three bottles of liquor and none of them the same. No wonder we're so befuddled."

"But what're we gonna do?" Vin asked again.

"Right now? Nothing. We'll deal with this when she wakes up. As for what we will do then, we will do whatever the lady requires us to do. Now, I'm going back to bed."

"Here?"

"Yes, here. It's my damned bed. You need to come back to bed too."

"What? Why?"

"Unless you are planning to pretend you are not part of this."

"Course not but… "

"Then get in the damned bed, Vin."

Vin stood a long moment watching as Ezra got back into the bed and held out a hand to him.

After a minute he climbed back in to the bed and snuggled down, one arm draped across Inez to rest on Ezra's side.

Ezra reached across and lay his hand on Vin's side.

With Inez tucked between them, they went back to sleep. 

*******

Inez moaned softly and pushed against the warm lump lying next to her.

Vin shifted to sit up in the bed, looking over at Ezra. "Think she's wakin' up?"

"Yes," Ezra replied, as he slipped out of the bed and went to get the porcelain basin from the wash stand.

"Think she's gonna need that?" 

Ezra snorted, "Oh, yes, indeed. I believe that this may be our dear Inez' first hangover. In which case she will definitely need this."

It was Vin's turn to snort a small chuff of laughter. "Ya seem ta be recoverin' well."

"Experience, darling. There is no substitute for experience and I most likely have far more experience with hangovers than either of you," he said, reminding Vin that before they had gotten together he had drank a lot more than he did now.

He slipped back under the covers sitting up against the headboard on the opposite side of Inez from Vin.

Inez stirred again, moaning. Dios but her head hurt and her stomach…!

Madre de Dios! Such pain in her head, she had never felt before. Her stomach roiled… and her mouth! What on earth had she eaten that tasted that bad. 

Then she remembered. It wasn't what she had eaten. It was what she had drank. 

She groaned, pushing at the warm lump beside her, suddenly desperate to get off the bed before she vomited. She pushed herself up then clamped one hand over her mouth as she heaved.

Instantly, someone shoved a basin under her head, while someone else caught her hair and pulled it back out of her face so that she wouldn't get puke in it.

The bed shifted as she continued to heave. She vomited until tears were running helplessly down her face. After a bit she finally managed to stop.

She was shaking and her arms felt like they were going to collapse. She feared that she would go face first into the basin she had been throwing up in.

Then someone slipped the basin from under her and strong but gentle arms turned her on her back so that she was held in someone's arms. 

A moment later someone wiped her face with a cool damp cloth while the person that held her stroked her hair soothingly and murmured quietly to her.

When she could finally open her eyes, she saw Ezra Standish sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.

He reached up to wipe around her mouth with the damp cloth he held. "There, my dear. Is that better?"

"Si," she replied weakly, blinking at him then turning her head to try and see who was behind her.

Vin Tanner said in his quiet rasp, "Easy, 'Nez, just me. You're all right. We got ya."

It was then that she realized that she was naked… and so were both of them. Clutching the bed covers she pulled them up to cover her breasts.

Ezra rose and lay the cloth on the bedside table. Pouring water into a glass he handed it to her. "You will want to rinse your mouth."

She did so and he held a small bowl for her to spit in. 

"The water will help with the hangover, but sip it slowly or you will need the basin again," Ezra said. 

He rose and took the basin over to the wash stand. Sitting it down he opened the window. Pouring some water from the pitcher on the wash stand into the basin he swirled it around to loosen the vomit then after checking to make sure that there was no one in the alley below he emptied the basin out the window. He then closed the window most of the way.

Inez couldn't help but stare at him. He moved gracefully and without any sign of embarrassment at his nudity.

Returning to the bed he asked gently, "Would you like to get dressed, darling?"

Inez ducked her head and nodded embarrassedly, not looking at him.

Ezra reached out and tilted her chin up so that he could see her eyes. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, my dear. You are a lovely and charming lady and yes, we do still very much consider you a lady. We are honored to have had you share our bed. As for why we are still unclad, we thought you might not be as embarrassed to wake up nude if you were not the only one."

"He's right, 'Nez. Figured if we's all naked it'd put us on a' more equal footin'. Ya ain't done nothin' wrong. Iff'n there was any wrong done it was us," Vin added.

"Indeed," Ezra said. "So, you just relax and let us take care of you. We can discuss the situation that we find ourselves in when you are feeling better. It that acceptable?"

"Si," Inez replied gratefully.

"Good then." Ezra rose from the bed and quickly stepped into a pair of pants. Turning back to the bed, he tossed Vin his pants.

"If you would, Darling, go down stairs and bring up the kettle off the stove in the kitchen. While you are there stroke the fire and put on the coffee."

Inez stilled at the casually affectionate way that he addressed Vin. She had always known that they were close but--- Her mind reeled, as it slowly dawned on her that the two men were far more than friends.

"Sure, Ez." Vin slipped out of the bed and put on his pants and boots, forgoing socks for the moment. His voice was warm and affectionate although he didn't use an endearment.

As he left, Ezra moved his dressing screen next to the wash stand so that Inez could have some privacy while she washed up and got dressed. He handed her a dressing gown from his wardrobe and turned his back while she slipped into it then helped her over to the wash stand, where he had placed a chair for her to sit on in case she did not feel up to standing while she washed.

As Inez settled behind the screen, Ezra lay one of his nightshirts over the top edge of the screen, saying "The best thing for a hangover is to sleep it off. You may wear this. I am going to change the bed for you."

"Oh, Senor Ezra, you do not have to do that. I can go back to my room," she protested. 

"I want to do it, Inez," Ezra said seriously, "unless you truly want to return to your room? I fear that your room will be cold. The fire in your stove has no doubt gone out by now."

Inez shivered slightly. Her room always seemed to be cold at night since fall had set in, even with the small stove that Ezra had bought and insisted that she use. She tilted her head in thought. The stove that Vin kept her supplied with firewood for.

She sighed. "Si, it will be cold."

"Then it's settled. You will stay here until you are feeling better."

"Oh! The Saloon, who will---?"

"It's Sunday. The Saloon doesn't open on Sunday."

"But I cook Sunday dinner for the seven…."

"It won't kill anyone to find somewhere else to eat for one day, my dear."

"What will you tell them?"

"Nothing, except that you are not cooking today. Why you are not is none of their business."

"Thank you, Senor."

"Darlin'," Ezra said with quiet amusement in his voice, “I think that under the circumstances you may call me Ezra."

Inez smiled, "Si, Ezra."

"That's better." 

She could hear him moving around as he stripped the bed.

A moment later there was a tap on the door as Vin announced his return.

"How hot is the kettle?" she heard Ezra ask.

"Just warm. The fire was near out in the stove."

"Set it on our stove then. I'm going to make Inez some mint tea to settle her stomach and then a cup of willow bark tea for her headache. The water needs to be boiling."

"Need some help with the bed?"

"I would appreciate it. It's always easier, to get the sheets evenly tucked in with two people."

As she listened to the two men working together to make the bed up for her, Inez slowly began to relax. They were so at ease with each other and with her being there. Perhaps this was not the disaster that she had feared it was when she had awakened in Ezra's bed with both him and Vin.

She sighed and rested her hand on her stomach. There was still one problem. The reason that she had gotten drunk in the first place.

*******

Inez stood and removed the nightshirt from where Ezra had hung it over the dressing screen. She slipped into it, sighing quietly at how soft and smooth it was. 

It was nicer than any nightgown that she owned and fancier as well. There were neat, small pleats across the front and back, making it full so that it flowed loosely around her. Each pleat had embroidery on it, vines with small flowers. The long sleeves were slightly belled with the same design embroidered around the hems of the sleeves.

As she stepped out from behind the screen, both Vin and Ezra turned to her.

Ezra moved to her, offering his arm as Vin said, "Bed ain't quite ready, 'Nez."

"Why don't you sit here in the rocker while we finish up making the bed," Ezra suggested.

"Really, senors, you do not have to go to all this trouble for me," Inez protested.

"Ain't no trouble," Vin assured her.

"Indeed not," Ezra agreed. "We would have had to remake the bed this morning in any event." He guided her to the rocker then went to prepare her cup of mint tea bringing it to her before returning to help Vin finish making the bed.

As she sipped the tea and watched them finish up, she unconsciously rested her hand on her stomach again.

She didn't notice the two men exchanging looks as she did so.

When they finished making the bed, the two men sat on the edge of it and looked at her for a long moment.

Finally Ezra asked, "Are you quite all right, Inez?"

"Si, I feel much better, Senor."

"Ya sure?" Vin asked. 

She frowned, "Si. I am sure."

Ezra cocked his head at her, his gaze dropping to her hand where it rested on her stomach before returning to her face as he asked, "Is there perhaps something that you wish to tell us?"

Inez looked up at him, fearfully, "What, senor?"

The two men shared a look again before Ezra said gently, "You do not normally indulge in alcoholic beverages. Yet last night you became more than just a little inebriated. This morning you have repeatedly rested your hand on your stomach, a gesture common to women who are with child. We were simply wondering if perhaps your unusual indulgence in alcohol last evening might be due to your finding yourself in a family way."

She stared at him for a long moment then dropped her gaze, guiltily, "Si. I am with child."

"I'm gonna kill Bucklin!" Vin snarled.

Vin's outburst startled a laugh out of Inez.

She shook her head, immediately regretting it and moving a hand up to hold her head as it suddenly felt as if it were going to fall off, before saying quietly but sharply, "No! Senor Vin, I was never so foolish as to allow Senor Wilmington to bed me. He will never change and I do not wish to spend the rest of my life wondering whose bed he is in when he is not in mine."

"Who then? Ya just say the name and we'll go get him," Vin vowed.

"It is too late for that. You would never catch him," Inez said sadly. Then she raised her head and said adamantly, "and I would not marry him if you did."

Ezra frowned then his eyes widened in surprise. "Lord Summerland?" he demanded.

Inez looked at him a long moment, wondering how he had guessed. "Si. How did you know?"

"He courted you quite ardently while he was here. He left suddenly. He has been gone just over two months. I am guessing that you have just missed your second monthly?"

"Si."

"He was on his way to San Francisco, with plans to sail for China. He has no doubt already set sail, in which case it would be impossible to catch up with him and return him here to marry you before the child is born. Since you have said that you would not marry him even if we did return him to you, I assume that his sudden departure was on the heels of your refusal to marry him."

"Si… and no. He did ask me to marry him and I accepted." She rose from the chair and began to pace, gesturing as she began to rant. "Then he told me that I would have to give up my job and go with him to the Orient. That no English gentleman would ever allow his wife to work! That I would have to learn to be a *proper* wife." 

She switched to rapid fire Spanish. "I would have to wear those terrible dresses with the high collars and long sleeves and dozens of buttons and a corset and petticoats and high top shoes and put my hair up everyday!" 

"You get alla that?" Vin asked looking at Ezra.

"Most of it. Did you?"

"Too fast fer me."

"Then when I told him that I wanted to own this saloon someday, he laughed. He laughed! He said that no married woman could own anything in her own name that all her property belonged to her husband! Then *I* told him that if I could not own my own business as a married woman that I would never be a married woman!" 

She turned to face them flinging her hair back with a flick of her head then staggering as the motion made her dizzy. 

Both men sprang up to catch her and guide her back to the rocking chair.

Ezra grabbed the basin again as she blanched and started to heave.

As Inez heaved into the basin, Vin quietly asked Ezra, "I got that he laughed at her. What about?"

"Ah, well the grist of it was that the idiot tried to tell her that he wasn't going to allow her to do what she wanted. Specifically that she could not ever own her own saloon. Therefore she sent him packing."

"Moron."

"Indeed."

Inez finally quit heaving.

Ezra rose and prepared her another cup of the mint tea bringing it to her. He would wait and see if she kept that down before fixing the willow bark tea. Sitting back down he asked quietly, "What do you intend to do now?"

Inez sighed. "I do not know. He is gone and I truly do not want him back… but I simply do not know what to do now."

"Do you want the child?"

"What do you mean? I am going to have a child whether I want it or not."

"I mean, my dear, that if you are only two months along there are ways to end the pregnancy."

She gaped at him. "That would be murder!" 

"Inez, my dear," Ezra soothed, "I was only asking. I had hoped you would not wish to do so, but it is a logical question. Now, that it is settled that you shall be keeping the child, there is the question of how do you plan to be able to take care of him or her."

"I will find a way!"

"I am sure that you will, Inez. However it is always better to have a plan than to _not_ have one. At some point in your pregnancy you will become unable to continue running the saloon. It will simply be too stressful. You need to make plans now to be able to afford to stop working for the period of time necessary."

"Ya ain't in this alone, 'Nez, me'n Ez'll help ya."

"Indeed we will. I believe that you mentioned that you wish to buy the saloon. Doing so will allow you to continue to have income even when you, yourself cannot run the saloon."

"I do not have enough money to buy it outright and the bank will not give a woman a business loan. That man said that women are not good risks for business loans!" Inez said, bitterly.

"How much money have you managed to save?" Ezra asked.

"I have just over six hundred dollars… but the owners are asking two thousand dollars for the saloon and all it's contents," Inez replied. 

"I got just over two hundred," Vin stated, clearly understanding what Ezra was thinking.

"And I have just over a thousand dollars." Ezra grinned, "We only need two hundred more."

"I could not accept---"

"Reckon Ez is thinkin' a partnership," Vin put in quietly.

"Indeed. You would have controlling interest, my dear, a full fifty-one percent. Mister Tanner and I would share the other forty-nine percent."

"But you are putting up most of the money."

"But money is all I am putting up, my dear. I have learned my limitations. I am no bartender, waiter or cook. You are all of that and an excellent manager as well. Also, you are putting up more than half as much money as I will be. Mister Tanner and I will each take twenty-four and a half percent. My percentage is for the money that I will be fronting to buy the business. Mister Tanner's will be for the lessor amount of money that he will be putting up and doing the manual labor required to keep the saloon running. Such as cutting firewood for the stoves and stacking it as well as hunting to put meat in the stew pot for the meals that you serve."

"Other words: what I do now, plus any heavy lifting since ya ain't gonna be needing to do that while yer carrying that baby around," Vin said firmly.

Turning to Ezra he added. "Ya know 'bout that poker tournament over ta Bitter Creek, don'tcha? Thousand dollar buy in. Hear tell they're expecting a couple a' dozen gamblers to show up."

"Tournament rules is winner takes all," Ezra said thoughtfully. "Still, if there are twenty-four players, I could, should I win, come back with twenty-four thousand dollars. That would definitely set us up very well. Even if only five or ten gamblers show up that is between five and ten thousand, which is a quite respectable sum."

He stared off into space for a long moment. "The tournament is still a month away. I could take a short tour of the larger towns around here, see how much I can win before then. I would only need twelve hundred dollars to have enough to buy the saloon and be able to enter the poker tournament. If I don't win enough to enter the poker tournament we'll simply use the money to buy the saloon and have some cash to the side. If I do win enough to enter the tournament, then I will enter. If I lose it we still have the saloon but if I win... we'll be set for a long time."

"Well, whadda ya say, 'Nez? Ya wanna be partners with us?"

"I don't know what to say…."

Ezra rose and took the empty cup from Inez and filled it with the willow bark tea, adding honey to sweeten it. As he moved around he said, "With fifty-one percent, you would have controlling interest. All the benefits of owning the saloon by yourself without having to put up all the money to buy it."

"I don't know. I do not quite understand why you would want to put money into it if you do not have any say in the running of it."

"For the same reason as the current owners, my dear, the money," Ezra explained. "The saloon has turned a profit every month since you began managing it. It will no doubt continue to do so, giving Vin and myself a regular income, aside from our pay as regulators. If we are thrifty we can save up money against the inevitable day that the town no longer needs seven regulators. For every dollar in profit that the saloon makes, that is for every dollar that is left after operating expenses are met, you will get fifty-one cents. Mister Tanner will get twenty-four and a half cents and I will get twenty-four and a half cents."

Vin frowned, "How's that half-cent work out?"

"If the saloon turns a profit of twenty dollars over the course of the week, Miss Rocillos would get ten dollars and twenty cents for the week. You and I would each get four dollars and ninety cents. If it should come up that there is a half-cent due us, I would take the whole cent one week and you would take it the next week."

"Or we could just get rid a that there half-cent," Vin suggested. "You could take twenty-five percent and give me twenty-four. That'd make the figuring a whole lot easier."

Ezra frowned. "Are you sure that you want to do that? It may not sound like much but over time, that half of a percent can add up.

"Ain't like the money matters ta me, Ez. I care 'bout you an' I care 'bout 'Nez. But long as I got a place ta get out of the weather when it's bad, an' food ta eat, and clothes ta wear, I'm good."

"I still prefer that we be equal partners. May I suggest that we give Inez fifty-two percent and take twenty-four percent each."

"Sounds good ta me," Vin said.

He smiled softly at Ezra and the gambler smiled back at him.

While they gazed into each other's eyes smiling, Inez had been thinking about the offer. "I see how it will work, now," she said. "Now, when I do the books, after I have paid all the expenses, I deposit the money in the account for the owners. But once we buy the saloon, after I pay the expenses I will divide the money between the three of us."

"Exactly. You may deposit your share in the bank or keep it as you choose."

"I do not like the man at the bank. He made me quite angry when he would not loan me the money to buy the saloon," Inez said.

"Then if I should win the poker tournament, our first purchase will be a safe for the saloon where we can keep our money secure without need to use the bank," Ezra said firmly.

"Good," Inez said.

"Then it is decided. We three shall buy the saloon together," Ezra said, firmly.

"Si," Inez agreed.

"Yeah," Vin said.

"Excellent, I'll draw up the partnership agreement and have it ready for all our signatures as soon as we have the money in hand to buy the saloon outright."

Ezra rose and offered Inez his hand. "Now, dear lady, you need to get some more sleep. That noxious potion of Mister Jackson's should be making you sleepy by now."

"It was not so bad, senor."

"Yes, well I added honey to it, something that Mister Jackson does not approve of," Ezra said with a grin.

As Ezra guided Inez back to the bed, Vin stood and turned it down for her. They tucked her in then turned the lamp down and left her to rest.

The End


	2. The Day After: Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Inez sleeps, Vin and Ezra make plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for Finabin and KC who asked for more in this series. Sorry that Inez doesn't make an appearance in this bit but she's still a bit under the weather.

This follows immediately on from chapter one.

*******

After he and Vin gathered up the clothes that they were going to wear that day, they slipped out the door leaving Inez to recover from her hangover. Quietly making their way down the stairs they retired to the saloon's kitchen to wash up and get dressed for the day.

When they had finished dressing, Ezra asked Vin what he'd like for breakfast. Since Vin had lit the stove when he came downstairs to get the hot water for Inez to wash up in, and for Ezra to make her both the mint tea to settle her stomach and the willow bark tea to help with her headache, the stove was hot enough to cook on.

"If yer cookin' I want pancakes," Vin said with a grin.

"Pancakes it is," Ezra said reaching for a bowl to mix the batter in. "Scrambled eggs and bacon as well I presume?"

"Yeah and some biscuits."

Ezra chuckled, shaking his head. When he had the first of the pancakes on the griddle, he left Vin to watch and turn them while he made the biscuit dough.

As he was putting the biscuits in the oven, there was a light knock on the back door.

Vin stepped away from the stove top just long enough to push the door open and say, "Get on in here, Cowboy," before turning back to drop some more pancakes on the griddle.

He could cook the dang things just fine, he just never seemed to get the batter right. Ezra, on the other hand, could mix the batter perfectly but hated standing over the hot stove to cook the pancakes, especially when cooking enough to satisfy Vin.

Chris stepped in through the back door and looked around. "Thought Inez was in here. She usually has coffee ready when I drop by."

"There is coffee Mister Larabee, but I warn you, Mister Tanner made it. Miss Rocillos will not be cooking today."

"She alright?" Chris asked.

"Just a bit under the weather," Ezra said blandly. "There are biscuits in the oven, and I am about to make eggs and sausage to go with the pancakes for Mister Tanner. If you would like some, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"Yes, Mister Standish, if you are cooking," Chris said with a grin, sweeping his hat off and holding it in front of him, "Please may I have some eggs and sausage. In fact I wouldn't mind a few of those pancakes as well."

Ezra laughed. It was rare to catch Chris in a playful mood and he was glad to see it.

"Better fix another bowl of batter," Vin said, "This'n most empty."

"And you've already eaten half the pancakes that you cooked," Ezra said with a sigh, watching Vin chewing on a pancake that he had rolled into a tube and was eating plain. Shaking his head, he reached for the bowl again. It wouldn't kill them for him to mix it in the same bowl.

After he mixed the pancake batter then handed it off to Vin to cook, he put the sausages in one pan and began scrambling the eggs in another. It only took a few minutes and by the time they were ready the biscuits were ready to come out of the oven. 

As he worked, Chris got down plates and silverware for them and set places at the kitchen table for them to eat. 

Once everything was done and they had sat down to eat, Vin said, "Ez? I think maybe we could tell Chris. Ya know he don't gossip."

"The story is not ours ta tell."

"But he's the only one's got any experience with this sorta thing, less you do?"

"Good Lord, no! I have never been in this situation before."

"Hold on, Vin. Just exactly what are you painting me as an expert on?" Chris asked.

"Didn't say ya was an expert. It's just ya were married so ya gotta know more about ya know, women things, than we do." 

"Women things?" Chris asked drily. "Exactly what is wrong with Inez?"

"Technically there is nothing wrong with her," Ezra hedged.

"Vin?" Chris turned to his best friend.

"She's carryin'."

"Carrying?" Chris queried then his eyes widened, "a baby?"

"Yes, Mister Larabee, Miss Rocillos is with child. And before you ask, no it is not mine. Nor is it Mister Tanner's. Hell, it is not even Mister Wilmington's. The father is long gone, helped along no doubt by the business end of Miss Rocillos' shotgun," Ezra informed him.

"How did I miss all this?" Chris demanded.

"Seems ta have happened during that month you an' Bucklin spent escorting the judge on his circuit on account of the threats he was getting'," Vin told him. "Reckon the rest of us didn't notice what was goin' on, on account of we was run ragged with every horse thief, rustler and bank robber in the territory decidin' that with ya two gone the town was wide open."

"What're you two planning to do about this? Because I know you've got something in mind," Chris said. 

"We considered the idea of one of us offering to marry her, but she has declared her intention of never marrying any man, so that option is out." 

At Chris' raised eyebrow, Ezra elaborated, "Apparently, the child's father asked her to marry him then after she had said yes, told her all the things that she would not be allowed to do once they were married. He laughed when she told him that she intended to buy this saloon and helpfully informed her that under current law a married woman cannot own property in her own name. That in fact should she own property before she married that when she married her property became her husband's property since legally a wife is her husband's property."

Chris nearly choked on his eggs. After he got his breath back, he said, "I can just imagine how that went over."

"Indeed, which is why I, personally, believe his hasty departure from our dusty, little town may have involved the shotgun that she keeps under the bar."

Chris snorted, "Oh, yeah. I bet it did. So, what are you two planning."

"Like Ez said, 'Nez wants ta buy the saloon but the fella over ta the bank won't loan her the money. Idiot says women ain't got no head for business," Vin said.

"Despite the fact that it was a woman, my Mother, who bought this saloon after she ran me out of business and a woman, Miss Rocillos, that turned it into a profitable business. A business profitable enough that Mother was able to sell it at a profit and the new owners are now looking to do the same," Ezra added.

"How much money does she need?"

"She has managed to save six-hundred dollars in the last two years. Quite remarkable really. Unfortunately, the asking price for the saloon, lock, stock and barrel is two-thousand dollars. It is unlikely that she will be able to save the rest in the time she has before she will be unable to continue working. Therefore, we proposed a partnership as Mister Tanner and I are both concerned for her. We each offered her the money we have saved, leaving us only two-hundred dollars short."

"That's why I thought that we should tell you. Ain't asking ya ta put up any money, just let me'n Ez have time off so's he can find better payin' games than here ta get up the rest of the money."

"Shouldn't be a problem. Judge is bringing some papers when he comes in this week that he needs delivered over to Red Bluff. I can assign you two to take them and you can take a couple of days there."

Vin and Ezra exchanged glances. 

"We are going to need more than a couple of days in Red Bluff to win the amount of money that we need," Ezra said. "While we only need two-hundred dollars to pay for the saloon, there will be operating expenses and we want to have enough money to support the three of us should the town respond badly when they learn of Miss Rocillos' condition. Therefore, I intend to participate in the poker tournament in Bitter Creek planned for the first weekend of December. I will need a thousand-dollar stake. Therefore, I will need to be away more than just a day here and there."

"I don't know if I can let you two be gone that much. You know how hard it was on the five of you when Buck and I were escorting the judge and that was part of the job," Chris said, seriously.

Vin scowled at him. "Ya can be two men down fer a or month or so or ya can be two men down permanent like! We ain't lettin' Inez down! We're gonna do this. We can do it with yer help or ya can go hang and we'll quit an' do it on our own!"

"It's that important to you, Cowboy?"

"Yeah," Vin said.

Chris looked over at Ezra. "You, too?"

"Yes," Ezra said simply.

Chris ran a hand through his hair. "Damn. Well, I'd rather lose you for a month than permanently. Doesn't seem like I have a lot of choice here."

"Best games 'll be at the weekends, won't they Ez?" Vin asked.

"Yes," Ezra said giving him a puzzled look.

"How about this. I do the out of town patrol, mornin' and afternoon Monday ta Wednesday. Ez does the in town patrols, mornin' and afternoon, Monday ta Wednesday. We both do mornin' patrols Thursday. We head out right after lunch on Thursday. That should give us 'nough travel time ta get ta places as faraway as Ridge City and Bristol an Ez still have time ta get him a nap before hitting the tables Friday night. Ez can sleep most of the day Saturday, play Saturday night and we'll head home Sunday. Should be back in time for mornin' patrol on Monday."

"You won't be getting much sleep," Chris said with a frown.

"Ain't never needed a whole lotta sleep. Ez don't either. Y'all just think he sleeps a lot cause ya go to bed way a'for he does. Lotta nights he's up til dawn at the tables. Sleeps till near noon then he's up and going till way after midnight again. Most nights 'specially, on the weekends, he don't get more'n four or five hours sleep tops." 

Ezra nodded, "And it will only be for approximately six weeks to two months, less if I do win the tournament. Besides, both of us can sleep in the saddle. We can swap off. I'll sleep and Vin will lead Chaucer then he'll sleep, and I'll lead Peso."

"If that mule-headed horse of his will let you lead it."

Ezra laughed. "You just don't know how to deal with Peso, Mister Larabee. Threats don't work, they only make him more ornery. On the other hand he'll follow me anywhere for an apple or two…" he trailed off, grinning. 

"Yer spoiling my horse as bad as ya do yers," Vin teased with a smile.

"It works," Ezra shrugged.

"Alright if you two are sure that you can handle double patrols on the days that you are here, I'll work the schedule out with the others so that you can have half the week off. I can cancel the out of town patrols from Thursday afternoon through Monday morning. That'll keep us from getting stretched too thin, and give you more time to make it back to town without worrying about the Monday morning patrol. This is Sunday and Travis is due in town on Wednesday. I'll have time to run this by him before you want to leave on Thursday."

Vin and Ezra exchanged looks then, Ezra said, "If you think that it might improve the odds of him approving the idea, you may tell him that we will be willing to forgo our pay for the days we are gone and accept only half a day's pay for Thursday."

"If he seems hesitant, I'll mention it. Anything else?"

They exchanged looks again, making Chris shake his head.

Then Vin said, "We'd feel a whole lot better iff'n whilst we're gone, somebody could keep an eye on 'Nez. Somebody that knows that she's… ya know."

"You cannot, of course, be obvious about it," Ezra added, "She is quite independent and would be rather upset if she were aware that we felt that she needed a keeper so to speak."

"Upset?" Chris chuffed, "More like she'd get that shotgun of hers after the two of you."

"Well," Ezra said, "there is that."

*******

TBC


	3. The Day After: Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inez wakes up. Things don't go quite as she thought that they would but perhaps that is a good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains an explicit sex scene between three people, two men and a woman.

________________________________________________________

Inez turned over and groaned softly. Madre Dios but she still felt awful. Thankfully, however, her head no longer felt like it might explode and just the thought of food no longer made her gag. In fact she was rather hungry.

She sighed as she listened to the quiet sounds coming from the saloon below. Clearly at least Vin and Ezra were downstairs.

A sudden burst of laughter that she recognized as Buck's told her that they weren't alone. All noise ceased abruptly as if someone had scolded Buck for making too much noise. She smiled as she wondered which one of her new protectors had done it. Both Vin and Ezra could be fierce when they had taken someone under their protection. Ezra was usually protective of the town's children, while Vin tended to be more protective of the town's elderly citizens and not just the female ones

Both of them were also unfailingly polite to all women from the most proper townswoman, to the most boisterous saloon girl, to any native girl, on the rare occasion that one of the tribeswomen came into town. Actually _Ezra_ tended to be more polite and differential to the saloon girls and other _lessor_ women of the town than to the prim and proper _ladies._

She lay her hand on her stomach, smiling. Either of them would make a good husband and a good father.

She shook her head. No. They loved each other more than they could ever love her, and she had decided that she was not going to marry, not when doing so meant giving up her dream of being a business woman.

No, they had made it clear that they were willing to help her while allowing her to remain independent. They had not put conditions on the partnership, going so far as to say that she would be the majority owner of the saloon, when they bought it.

Unless they had changed their minds.

The thought galvanized her into action. She had to get up! She needed to talk to them when she was not as befuddled as she had been this morning! 

She forced herself to get out of the bed and across the room to the door. She opened the door a crack and peeped out, sighing in relief that there was no one in the hall, she quickly crossed the hall to her own room.

Soon she was dressed for the day and slipped out into the hall carefully making her way to the stairs.

She had barely stepped down onto the first step before Ezra appeared at the bottom of the stairs. 

"I told y'all that you were going to wake her up!" he quietly scolded the rest of the seven.

The others were gathered around one of the tables that was laden with a large cookpot in the center and plates of food before each of them.

There were murmurs of apologies from all but Vin who was also giving the others a chastising look.

"Ya feelin' better, 'Nez?" Vin queried, as Ezra rushed up the stairs to her and offered her his arm.

She took it gratefully, "Si, Senor Vin. I am much better." She looked around at the others. "I was not expecting…" she trailed off.

"When Mister Larabee dropped by to get his morning coffee and discovered that you were not feeling well," Ezra explained quietly, "he offered to make his chicken and dumplings for us all. I used part of the broth from the chicken to make a simple chicken soup with celery, garlic and onions for you, as I was not sure that your stomach could handle something as rich as the dumpling soup." 

He guided her to the table and Vin grabbed a chair from the next table over while everyone else scooted their chairs around to make room for the chair.

She noted that Vin placed her chair between his own and the empty chair that was clearly Ezra's.

When she was seated, Ezra hurried off to the kitchen, obviously going to bring her some of the soup he had made. She decided that she would have to eat it no matter how it tasted. She hoped that it would not be too bad, but she had never known him to cook anything other than eggs, bacon and occasionally flapjacks.

As soon as he set the bowl in front of her, her eyes widened in surprise. "This smells wonderful," she said, "I did not know that you could cook such."

"I assure you," Ezra said with a self-depreciating smile, as he set a plate of biscuits down beside her bowl of soup. "I learned in self-defense. Mother is a wonderful business woman, but she can not boil water without burning the pot. It was learn to cook or starve." 

He smiled at her, "The biscuits are not nearly as good as yours, but they are at least not hard enough to use as cannonballs like Mister Tanner's." He smirked at Vin as he said the last.

Buck snorted, "Good ta know that his biscuits are good for something, you sure can't eat them. I thought I broke a tooth last time he made biscuits on the trail."

"My biscuits taste fine," Vin protested, "Ya just have ta soak'em a bit."

"A bit?" Chris teased, "More like a day or two."

Vin glared angrily at his best friend.

"Vin," Ezra said softly, "you're not the only one of us that cannot make a biscuit. Both Nathan and Josiah's biscuits are completely uneatable. However, Josiah makes the best chili that I have ever eaten and Nathan is a deft hand with seasonings, knowing just what herbs to add to make anything taste better. When we catch fish to eat you are the one that we want frying them, because try as we may none of us can make them taste as good as you do."

He sat down beside Inez and reached for the dipper in the pot of chicken and dumplings, "And I think that we can all agree that chicken and dumplings are Mister Larabee's forte. We certainly seem to have put a dent in this pot of them."

"Thanks, Ez," Chris said then looking over at Inez, said, "Vin and Ezra tell me that the three of you are planning to buy the saloon. Something about a partnership between the three of you?"

She looked uncertainly at Ezra then Vin before, saying, "Si. I am not certain exactly what was decided. I was not feeling well this morning when we were discussing it."

"It's quite simple really, Miss Rocillos will hold fifty-two percent interest. Mister Tanner and I will share the remainder, holding twenty-four percent each."

"That gives her more than twice as much interest in the saloon as the two of you. I thought you said that you were putting up most of the money?" Chris said.

"I am. I shall be putting up twelve-hundred dollars versus Inez's six-hundred and Vin's two hundred, but money is all that I am putting up. Inez will run and manage the saloon as she has for the last two years. Vin will continue to hunt to provide her with meat for the meals that she serves, and he will continue to cut and haul the firewood for the stoves as well as doing any other heavy lifting as required. All I will be contributing aside from the money is to check over the books monthly and help with the inventory. What they are contributing will have much more impact on the success or failure of the business than what I am contributing."

"So, what are you getting out of it?" Nathan demanded, suspiciously. "Cause I know yer getting' something out of it or you wouldn't be putting up yer money."

"I get all the benefits of owning the saloon with none of the work. Also, since as an owner I won't be paying for my room or the meals that I eat here, the money that Judge Travis currently pays for that will go into my pocket." 

He turned to Vin, "I suggest that you give up your room at the boarding house and take one upstairs. That way your room and board will go into your pocket as well. Inez won't be affected in that way as she already lives here, eating and sleeping in the saloon as part of her manager's position."

Vin frowned, "How much difference will that make?"

"Twenty-cents a day allowance for a room plus ten-cents per meal, times three meals a day allowance for board, is fifty-cents a day extra. So, for three-hundred-sixty-four days a year, that is one-hundred-eighty-two dollars per year. Boosting our total for the year from three-hundred-sixty-four dollars to five-hundred-forty-six dollars," Ezra informed him without hesitation.

Vin snorted, "And that's why he's doing the books. I'd've never figured that out."

"Si," Inez agreed. "I could have calculated it, but I would need a pencil and paper and much time." She turned to Ezra, "You will be doing the books," she told him firmly. "It takes me an hour every night and two or three hours at the end of each month. You can do the nightly paperwork while Vin and I close down and clean up. You already check my work at the end of the month, you can simply take that over completely."

"I shall add it to the list and make sure that I set aside enough time for all the books I do," Ezra said.

"All the books you do?" Josiah asked.

"Ez does the books fer a bunch of folks," Vin told them a hint of pride in his voice.

"That right?" Nathan asked, with a frown. 

"Yes, that is correct.

"Who all do you do them for?" Josiah asked.

"I do the books for Mrs. Potter's store and Bucklin's General Store, as well as both the blacksmith's shop and the livery. I also occasionally audit the newspaper books for Mrs. Travis when she cannot get them to balance."

"And they _trust you_ to do their books?" Nathan asked, clearly unhappy about what he was hearing.

"Yes, Mister Jackson, they trust _me_ to do their books," Ezra said tiredly. 

He looked over at Vin and raised an eyebrow. 

Vin nodded back at him, then said, "Fellas we'd appreciate it iff'n ya'd keep this under your hats till we say. Partnership agreement ain't signed yet and we still need a couple of hundred dollars ta have the money for the saloon."

"Which brings up the request that you two made," Chris said. "Since we're all here, reckon now is as good a time as any to bring it up with the others," turning to the other four he said, "Vin and Ezra have asked for some time off so that they can travel to some of the bigger towns and Ezra can find games that will let him win the rest of the money that they need to buy the saloon. They'll be leaving on Thursday afternoon and coming back Monday morning."

"That's half the week!" Nathan protested.

"And it's the weekend. That's when all the ranch hands are in town!" Buck added.

"How long is this going to be going on?" Josiah demanded. 

As the other members of the seven protested against Vin and Ezra being allowed the time off, Inez shrank back in her chair. She hadn't even thought about what the others might have to say.

Vin stuck two fingers his mouth and gave a shrill whistle, "Shut up!" he snapped. "I done told Chris, now I'm tellin' you. This is important ta us. We kin take half the week off or we can just walk away completely. So, ya just decide iff'n ya want us to stay seven or if ya want to be five from now on!" 

"You'd quit over this?" JD asked in dismay, "but… but we're the seven!"

"This town is not going to need seven peacekeepers for much longer, Mister Dunne," Ezra informed him. "You will no doubt stay on as sheriff. Mister Larabee has his… cabin and his thoughts of ranching again. Mister Wilmington is tied to him by friendship and as a former partner in the previous ranch. Mister Sanchez has his church and Mister Jackson his healer's practice. Mister Tanner and I, however, have nothing holding us here… except our association with you five. If you cannot support our efforts to put down roots, to have another reason to stay beyond that association then why should we stay?"

"We ain't gotta buy _this_ saloon," Vin put in, "we can find another town, another saloon. Won't be the same as being here with y'all, but like Ez said, iff'n y'all ain't willing ta support us, why stay?"

In the silence that followed, Inez stared at Vin in dismay, then turned to look at Ezra. Both looked completely serene as if they hadn't just thrown a bombshell into the conversation.

She had never considered leaving.

"I'll be talking to Travis about the arrangement when he comes into town, Wednesday," Chris said, "but I've already told Vin and Ezra that they can take this weekend. The judge is bringing some paperwork that needs to be in Red Bluff by Friday afternoon. They'll be the ones taking it and I've given them until Monday noon to get back. Also, I'm canceling the out of town patrols starting with the Thursday afternoon patrol and running through the Monday morning patrol. Vin and Ezra have agreed to take the morning and afternoon patrols in town and out of town starting tomorrow and running through Thursday morning. They will be paid for the days this weekend since they will be delivering paperwork for the Judge. However, they have agreed that when they are traveling entirely for the purpose of gambling, they will forgo pay for the days that they are gone."

"We're still gonna be stretched kinda thin," Nathan grumbled.

"Ya won't be stretched all that thin with Chris cancelling the out of town patrols, Nate," Vin told him flatly. "Ain't like yer always available when we need ta ride out. Me and Ez has got as much right ta have time for stuff we want ta do as ya do."

"What I'm doing is helping people!" Nathan snapped.

"And ya get paid for it! Ya want to start skippin' getting' paid fer peacekeepin' when yer busy with yer healing when we need ya ta ride out with us an' ya say ya can't cause ya got better things ta do?"

"Helpin' people is better'n---" Nathan broke off not sure how to finish.

"Better'n what? Better'n being there fer one a us, if we get shot up chasing outlaws or bank robbers or rustlers? It's just pure luck ain't none of us got kilt while ya was takin' care of more _important _people than us!" Vin snarled.__

____

____

"That ain't what I meant!" Nathan protested. "It's just that what y'all are wantin' off for… it's different! It ain't like being in the middle of deliverin' a baby or settin' a leg or tendin' somebody that's sick."

Vin scowled at him, until Ezra said quietly, "Vin."

Vin turned to him and Ezra continued, "It is far too late to change Mister Jackson's opinion of me, and it is not his opinion that will decide this matter. Mister Larabee is our leader. Judge Travis is our employer. They will decide whether or not to grant our request. We will fulfill the agreement that we have made with Mister Larabee concerning this weekend. Should he and Judge Travis decide not to extend the agreement beyond that, then we will hand in our resignation and proceed as planned."

He pushed back his chair and rose, turning to Inez he said quietly, "May I escort you back upstairs, Miss Rocillos?"

"Si, senor, if you would be so kind." She started to push back her chair, but Vin was already there, pulling it back as she stood.

Ezra offered his arm and she took it, allowing him to lead her to the steps and up with Vin following them.

The other five stared after them as they disappeared up the stairs.

Finally Buck said, "What the heck is going on between those two and Inez? Ain't never seen them act like that around any woman. All protective and… ya know…"

"Possessive?" Chris asked.

"Yeah. Do you know what's going on?"

"Not entirely but might be that you should back off a bit around Inez, before you get a hand shot off," Chris said with a grin.

"Dammit! Don't you be telling me that that dang smooth-talking gambler's done cut in on my woman."

"Inez ain't your woman, Buck. Never has been and I don't reckon she ever will be. And in case you weren't noticing, Vin is just as protective and possessive. Don't think either one of them intends what you were intending. More like she's found herself with a couple of real fierce big brothers."

Upstairs, Inez stopped in front of her door. "I am so sorry, senors. I should not have gotten you into this. If I had not gotten drunk and…" she waved a hand to indicate all that had happened between them.

"Inez, my dear. You have nothing to be sorry for. We are honored that you trusted us with your secret, and pleased that you have kept our secret."

"How could I betray your secret when you are willing to risk your place with the seven to help me? I do not know how I can ever repay you."

"Ya don’t need ta repay us, 'Nez. Ya don't owe us a debt."

"Indeed not," Ezra confirmed. "All we ask is that you allow us to help you. Allow us to help you make your dreams of becoming a businesswoman come true. And if you would be so kind, allow us to help you raise your child. As Vin and I are what we are, it is unlikely that either of us shall ever have a child of our own, but we would be honored to act as father figures to your child, to love it as if it were our own flesh and blood."

She blushed suddenly as a thought crossed her mind.

"Inez?" Ezra queried just as Vin asked, ""Nez? Is somethin' wrong."

"No," she stammered, "I just—I mean—It occurred to me that last night… if I were not already," she laid her hand on her stomach, "with child," she blushed again, "that I could have—One of you could have become a father!" she finished in a rush. "And I thought that perhaps, later, that is after this baby is born, that if you want—that I could—that we could---."

"Ya'd do that for us?" Vin asked.

"Si, if—if you would like. You both treat me so kindly. You know what I have done yet you treat me like a lady. You show me respect. Yes. I would have a child for you… either of you…or both of you. If you wish." She looked up at them nervously.

"Dear, dear, Lady," Ezra said in a hushed yet passionate voice, "You are going to become the reigning queen of this town, perhaps even this territory and Vin and I shall be your knights errant, kneeling at your feet, side by side, devoutly determined to make your every wish come true."

He moved closer, his left arm going around her waist as he leaned in, cupping her cheek then sliding his right hand into her hair and bending down to kiss her passionately.

She trembled, as her eyes closed, and she felt a gush of wetness between her legs.

She blinked her eyes open as she felt another arm go around her waist, while Ezra's left hand remained around her waist and his right remained tangled in her hair.

Vin was leaning close, one hand wrapped around Ezra's waist the other around hers.

Ezra broke their kiss and turned his head towards Vin. 

Vin bent enough to claim Ezra's lips, murmuring, "Ezra!" in a breathless moan.

Her eyes dilated with passion and she trembled again as she watched them kissing, eagerly and passionately. 

Then Vin broke off the kiss with Ezra and turned to her, "'Nez," he murmured as Ezra used the hand in her hair to turn her head so that Vin could kiss her while Ezra watched with loved filled eyes.

She moaned into Vin's mouth as he kissed her, truly starting to shake now. She felt Ezra's hand slip from her hair, then stoke across her breast. She gasped and opened her eyes seeing Ezra take a quick look back towards the stairs, to check if anyone had followed them up. Her eyes slid closed again. She was too far gone to care who saw them. Then she felt a hand gathering up her skirt and a moment later, a finger brushed her clit. 

Vin swallowed her scream as she came. Then she sagged against them, trembling.

The two men exchanged looks before Vin turned to check the hall again as Ezra swept her up in his arms. 

The door to her room where they stood was directly across the hall from Ezra's and both were halfway down the hall from the stairs that led down into the saloon.

Vin moved the few steps to open the door to Ezra's room and Ezra carried her to the bed laying her down gently.

He pushed up her skirt and pulled off her underwear as Vin locked the door. A moment later Vin was joining them on the bed, pulling his shirt off over his head and dropping it on the floor. He pulled the sleeves of her peasant blouse off her shoulders and she slipped her arms out, reaching for him, as he bared her breasts and bent to kiss them.

Ezra had spread her thighs and was slipping his tongue inside her. 

Vin bent to kiss her just as Ezra swiped his tongue across her clit making her cry out as she came again. Then nimble fingers were spreading her open and guiding a thick cock inside her. It had to be Ezra's hands because Vin was still fondling her breasts as he kissed her.

Vin shifted, rising up and beginning to thrust into her. 

She whimpered at the loss of his kisses and the hands fondling her breasts. 

Then other hands stroked across her breasts, rolling the nipples between thumb and forefinger.

She arched up under Vin, opening her mouth to scream her pleasure. Before the sound could escape her Ezra was kissing her, swallowing the scream.

She had never imagined that sex could be like this.

She came and came again, spiraling down into darkness as the hardest climax she had ever experienced claimed her.

She didn't know how much later it was when she awoke. She was warm and comfortable despite being quite naked. She knew she was naked because she could feel the warmth of bare skin pressed against her on both sides and two hands gently caressing her, not in an arousing way but gentle and soothing. 

She smiled and opened her eyes. 

Vin lay on her right side, laying on his left side turned towards her, his right hand reaching across her to gently stroke up and down her left arm.

Ezra lay on her left side, laying on his right side also turned towards her, his left arm laying across her waist, as he idly drew circles on her stomach.

Both of them smiled at her. Ezra drew a line with his finger down her stomach to swirl it in her pubic hairs, twisting the curly hair around it.

She blushed furiously.

"Oh, Darling, don't be shy. You are exquisite, a vision of beauty and soon," he leaned up and pressed a kiss to her stomach, "you will be even more beautiful."

"Yeah," Vin said as he trailed his hand across her stomach, "always thought pregnant women was the prettiest things. Can't wait till this littlun's near ready ta come out. Pretty as ya already are, yer gonna be the prettiest woman in the territory." 

"Indeed, and she will be even more beautiful when the child inside her is yours… or mine," he leaned further across her and Vin leaned up to meet him.

She watched them kiss, struck again at the love lighting their eyes when they looked at each other.

Then they turned the look on her and her breath caught. They looked at her exactly like they looked at each other. Tears filled her eyes as she realized that they did love her, both of them and just as much as they loved each other.

"Inez, beloved? What's wrong? Have we done something to displease you?" Ezra asked worriedly.

"No, oh no, I am so happy. You do love me. You both do love me."

"Of course we do, darling. How could we not? You are the most beautiful, fiery, intelligent and independent woman that we have ever known, and you accept us, accept that we love each other. How could we not worship the ground that you walk on?" 

"I do not know how you can be so kind. When the townspeople find out that I am with child and have no husband, they will be cruel in the things that they say. They may even—"

"They won't dare!" Ezra declared. "Vin and I will make sure of that."

"Then they will think that the child is one of yours."

"Let'em. Ain't like we care what they think," Vin assured her. "Ya can't live yer life by what other people think, 'Nez. Hell, it ain't like the folks that figure themselves ta be all proper and righteous, think of us as bein' good as them now. They figure Ez is a no-account gambler, and even if I wasn't a wanted man, they'd figure me for just a white injin and a bounty killer. An' while we all know yer as fine a lady as any of'em, ya gotta know that they look down on ya cause ya work in the saloon. Fact is this don't really change how they think of us at all."

"And the rest of the seven? They did not sound happy," Inez said sadly. 

"And you care what they think," Ezra stated. "I do believe that situation will work itself out. Mister Larabee is already aware of your situation and is on our side. If we are upfront with Judge Travis, tell him the truth and ask for his support I believe that he too will be supportive. If the Judge supports us and you, then Mary will. Mister Wilmington's mother was a working girl; therefore, he is unlikely to condemn you. Mister Jackson's first thought when he discovers that you are with child will be your health and that of the baby. He has seen too much suffering to worry about unimportant details such as your marital status. Mister Sanchez may struggle with it; however, you have always been a friend to him, and I believe in the end he will choose to remain your friend. As for Mister Dunne, he tends to go with the majority of the other six of us." 

"Think JD might fool ya, Ez. Don't think he'll need the others ta make up his mind for him 'bout this. Told me once real quiet like that Dunne was his mama's family name. Reckon she was maybe in the same place with him that 'Nez is now. Figure he'll stand with us in memory of his mama."

"You are correct,Vin. In that case, Mister Dunne's anger will be directed toward the man that caused your condition, Inez, rather than at yourself, therefore he too will stand beside you. And finally you will have Vin and myself, standing squarely between you and anyone who dares besmirch you."

"Yep," Vin agreed, "Yer ours and we're yers. That ain't gonna change. We'll take care ya, and that precious babe. If we have'ta leave here we will, but I kinda figure that iff'n we do, we won't be goin' alone."

"I do not believe that we will be leaving. I intend to win that poker tournament and when I do, this saloon will not be the only business that I buy. There are quite a few closed up businesses, empty buildings and vacant lots in this town." Ezra informed them with a smirk.

"What's that gotta do with us stayin'?" Vin asked.

"Why, Mister Tanner," Ezra said in a gently teasing tone, "you'd be surprised how polite people can be to their landlords, regardless of what they may actually think of them." 

TBC


	4. Wednesday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talking to the Judge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a hint of Chris/Mary near the end.

________________________________________________________

Chris was waiting on the jailhouse porch when the stage pulled in on Wednesday morning.

He quickly crossed to stand beside it and stepped forwards as soon as Travis stepped down.

"Let me get your bag for you, sir," he said politely.

"Do we have a problem, Mister Larabee?" Travis asked. Chris seldom met the stage unless he had something specific that he wanted to talk to him about before anyone else had a chance to speak to him.

"I don't think it's a problem."

"But some of the others do?"

"They don't have the whole story and aren't going to get it, at least not until the people primarily involved have a chance to speak to you first," Chris said firmly. "I'd appreciate it if you'd wait until after you've spoken to the people involved before you form any kind of opinion."

"Would you care to tell me the basics?"

"It's complicated and best told only once and in its entirety."

"Sounds like Standish is involved."

"He is… but don't go thinking the worst. He and Vin are making some permanent plans and they are willing to hand in their resignations if we can't work it out so that they can go forwards."

Travis stepped up on the boardwalk in front of the newspaper and turned to look back at Chris, "Standish and Tanner are planning something together and you want me to hear them out?"

"Yes," Chris said.

"Why?"

"They want to put down roots here. If we support them, they'll be staying. If we don't, they'll move on, find somewhere else to put down roots. I've heard the plan and I've already told them that I'll support them. I'd hate to do it but if they move on, I might just be going with them."

Travis blinked. He wanted to ask, _'What about Mary?'_ but there hadn't been anything said officially on that front so he settled for, "What about Mister Wilmington? Would he be going? You've known each other a long time."

"He doesn't know enough yet to make a decision. He might go just because I do, or he might stay if JD does. Won't change my decision."

"Hmmmmm," Travis murmured while wondering, _'Could Mary change your decision?'_ but he just asked, "When can I speak to them?"

"Soon as Vin gets back from the morning patrol. He and Ezra are doing both the morning and afternoon patrols, Vin out of town, Ezra in town. Ezra's around now, but he won't talk to you without Vin present. He says that if they are to be partners then Vin needs to be present when he talks to you."

"Formal partnership?"

"Yeah, Ezra's been working on writing up the agreement since Sunday."

"I see. I'll visit with Mary until Tanner and Standish are ready to talk. You come and get me. I'll have her lock up until then, make it plain that I'm not accepting visitors for the time being," Travis said, decisively. If Larabee were firmly enough behind Tanner and Standish on this that he would consider leaving if they did, then perhaps he should hear what Standish had to say without having other people's opinions foisted off on him first.

"Thank you, Judge. If you and Mary will be in the kitchen, I can bring them around to the back door when they finish the patrols. We can talk there."

"That will be fine. I'll be listening for your knock," Travis said reaching for his bag. "Mister Jackson is headed this way, I'd best be getting inside." At least it seemed that Larabee intended for Mary to be there when they discussed the matter.

He closed the door behind him and quickly turned the closed sign around, then turned the key to lock it before turning to greet Mary.

She hugged him then asked, "What's going on Orin? And don't tell me nothing. I saw Chris meet you and then you locked my door before even greeting me."

Orin sighed. Naturally, Stephen would have to marry one of the smartest women that Orin had ever met and a nosey one to boot.

"I don't have the whole story, Mary. In fact I don't have much of anything except that Chris wants me to hear Standish and Tanner out without being biased by the opinions of the others."

"Vin and Ezra started doing both the morning and afternoon patrols on Monday and have done them all week. Does this have anything to do with that?"

And an observant, woman too.

He took her arm and headed for the back of the building where the kitchen was. "I believe it does, however, as of yet, I do not know why they are doing both the patrols. Mister Larabee is going to bring them around to the back door when the patrols are done. Let's just have a cup of coffee and visit until they arrive, why don't we?"

Mary glanced back just before they stepped through the curtain into the back and saw Nathan standing at the door to the newspaper, frowning at the closed sign. Thankfully he turned away as the curtain fell closed behind her.

She busied herself, preparing coffee, putting on a fresh pot knowing that Chris, Vin, and Ezra would want coffee when they arrived. She set out the cookies that she had baked, knowing that Orin was due that day and having promised Billy that she would make cookies when his grandfather came.

When they were seated with coffee and cookies before them, Orin said, "What do you know about what is going on?"

"Nothing really, but I believe that whatever it is started Sunday. Buck and Josiah have been avoiding Vin and Ezra while Nathan keeps trying to confront them. They refuse to argue with him and walk away. Poor JD has been very subdued, walking around looking sad. Chris is watching them all like a hawk and when Vin and/or Ezra walk away from Nathan he makes sure that Nathan doesn't follow them. Inez seems to know something about it. At least twice when Nathan tried to confront Vin or Ezra in the saloon, she ran him out with a broom, yelling at him in Spanish."

She sat her coffee down and looked at him squarely, "Now what do you know?"

He sighed again. Damn woman was perceptive, too. He set his coffee down. "This goes no further than this table. Do you understand? You don't print anything unless you have permission."

"Orin, people have a right to know—"

"People have a right to privacy, too, Mary. If you reveal their private business, they can sue you for invasion of privacy."

"But—"

"Mary would you want your private business in the newspaper?"

"I," she started, then slumped, "no, of course not. I promise that I won't print anything about this without permission. Now, tell me what you know."

"Standish and Tanner are serious enough about whatever this is about that they have told the rest of the seven that if they cannot support them that they will resign and leave."

"Vin and Ezra may resign and leave! This could seriously impact the town, Orin," she declared. "Chris, Vin, Buck and Ezra are the core of the seven. Vin is Chris' second-in-command and both of them depend on Ezra's ability to read people and predict what they might do."

"If Standish is third after Tanner where does Wilmington fit?"

"Oh, Ezra's not in the line of command. Buck is third-in-command. Ezra refers to himself as the intelligence officer. Vin laughs every time Ezra says it, but none of them deny it."

Travis snorted. Intelligence officer, of course he was. The man seemed to know everything going on in the entire territory.

As he shook his head and reached for his coffee cup, there was a quiet knock on the back door.

"Mary?" Chris's voice called.

"Come in Chris," Travis answered for her.

When the door opened, he was surprised to see that the first person in was Inez Rocillos, the saloon manager, with Standish hovering right beside her, like an anxious father with a toddler. Tanner was on his heels. Chris stood back with a long-suffering look on his face.

Standish escorted Miss Rocillos to a seat at the table and both he and Tanner fussed over her, getting her seated, pouring her a cup of coffee and laying several cookies on a napkin for her before taking seats on either side of her. She endured it for a few moments then lit into the two men with a rapid-fire scolding in Spanish that Travis couldn't keep up with.

Tanner backed off quickly with a chuckle and a grin, but Standish went from doting parent to pouting five-year-old so fast that it was all that Travis could do not to laugh out loud.

Travis glanced at Chris and saw that he had his lips pressed tight together and was staring at the floor struggling not to burst out laughing himself.

When he looked back at Standish and Miss Rocillos, Standish had turned on the big eyes and was edging close again.

Miss Rocillos froze him with a look, but her voice was gentle this time and Travis caught one word that made him blink: amado, Spanish for beloved.

Standish looked sheepish and murmured a reply in Spanish before settling into the chair beside her, obviously trying to curtail his fussing.

Mary was looking between him and Inez with a strange look on her face, "Inez?" she queried, "are you--?"

Inez looked at her friend with uncertainty, "Si," she said softly laying a hand on her stomach.

Mary looked at Standish, "Is--?"

"No," Inez said before she could finish the question. "The father is gone," she stated then added defiantly, "and I do not want him back!"

Travis cleared his throat, "Miss Rocillos, are you saying that you are… in a family way?" he asked rather cautiously. From the looks that Tanner and Standish were giving him, not to mention Chris and now Mary as well, he thought cautious was the way to go.

Tanner looked fairly relaxed, but Standish was wound tighter than a pissed-off rattler and the hard-eyed look the man was gracing him with clearly said, 'Tread carefully. I have a gun and I'm itching to use it.'

It was probably a good thing the father was gone (at least for the father, whoever he might have been) otherwise he'd be dead. Travis had seen the look in Standish's eyes before, usually in the eyes of a father or brother whose daughter or sister had found themselves in the position that Miss Rocillos was now in.

She raised her chin and looked at him unflinchingly. "Si, Senor Judge. I am with child."

"Have you considered…?" he trailed off looking at Standish. The man was clearly besotted, surely he would be willing to marry her.

Her chin rose even higher if possible, and both Tanner and Standish eased back a few inches. "I will _not_ marry!" She declared fervently, "not any man. Not ever." Her mouth was pressed into a hard line.

Evidently, she was determined to remain single. "Might I ask why you have made this decision? You must be aware of how difficult it will be to raise your child without a father."

"I wish to own the saloon, to be an independent business woman. The father, he tells me that a married woman can not own property! He says that even if she owns it before she is married, it becomes her husband's when she marries. That she is her husband's property! I refuse to be any man's property!" she declared adamantly.

"Inez, darling," Standish soothed, "why don't we get to the reason that we are here? It is really no one's business why you have made the choice you have. It is your choice to make and Mister Tanner and I will support you, come what may."

He turned towards Travis and pulled a small sheaf of paper out of his inside jacket pocket, "I have here a formal partnership agreement between, Miss Rocillos, Mister Tanner and myself." He held the papers out to the Judge.

When Travis took them, he continued, "Correct me if I am wrong but even though you are a Federal Judge you are still licensed to practice law privately in so long as the cases that you take do not in any way impact your job as a Federal Judge. Therefore, I believe that you should be able to act on behalf of our partnership by filing the paperwork for said partnership for us.

"I should also like to retain you to act on our behalf to buy the saloon from the current owners. We would prefer not to have anyone know, at this time, that we are the ones buying it as the manager of the Bank here is acting on their behalf to sell the saloon and he does not look favorably on any of the three of us. He rejected Miss Rocillos' request for a loan to buy the saloon based entirely on the fact that she is a woman. He thinks little of me and less of Mister Tanner. Therefore, despite the fact that we will be paying cash, he may refuse to sell to us if he is aware of exactly who he is selling to. I am certain, however, that he will be more than happy to sell to any client of yours."

"You intend to use my reputation to get the property that you want," Travis stated.

"We want ta hire ya to represent us. That's what lawyers do ain't it? Take care of business fer other folks. Don't reckon we're the first folks that'd rather keep their names outta things till the paperwork's done," Vin said, then added with a shrug, "We can always move on. Reckon there's plenty of towns with a saloon fer sale that'd welcome the three of us with open arms, when we show up with cash money ta buy the place."

"I never said that I wouldn't do it," Travis looked back at the partnership agreement. "According to this, Miss Rocillos will own fifty-two percent of the saloon when you buy it and she has the option of buying the two of you out at a later date."

"If you read it all you see that her percentage is due to the fact that the success or failure of the business is largely in her hands. She will be in charge of the day to day running of the saloon and its management. Mister Tanner is the one doing all the heavy lifting and such whereas despite the fact I am putting up the majority of the money, I will only be helping with the inventorying and doing the bookkeeping. Also that partnership agreement is purely for the saloon."

He pulled out another sheaf of papers, much thicker than the one that Travis now held, saying, "I have here the articles of incorporation for a company, as yet to be named, which will belong to myself, Miss Rocillos and Mister Tanner. For that company, I will own forty percent because I am putting up all the money to start it and Miss Rocillos and Mister Tanner will each own thirty percent. None of us will have controlling interest. So, unlike the partnership of the saloon, where Miss Rocillos may do as she chooses because Mister Tanner and I together cannot out vote her, any two of us can out vote the third if need be."

Travis eyed the sheaf of papers warily. He would be up all night reading that.

Standish clearly could tell what he was thinking. "We do not require your answer about representing the partnership or the company until we return on Monday."

"Return?" Travis asked.

Chris stepped away from the door and back into the conversation, "I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, fellas. Why don't you leave the paperwork with him and head back over to the saloon? I'll fill him in on the plans for this weekend."

"Sounds good," Tanner said, rising and offering Inez a hand up. "I could go fer lunch."

Standish fluttered a bit then nodded and followed them out.

When they were gone Travis turned to Mary, "If lunch is about ready, Chris and I could eat then retire to the parlor to discuss business."

Mary smiled, "Lunch has been ready. I just need to put it on the table."

"I'll give you a hand," Chris offered.

After they finished lunch, Travis led the way into the parlor. Mary joined them, having decided that whatever they had to discuss would definitely be more interesting than doing the dishes.

Once they were settled, Travis turned to Larabee, "Now what is this about Tanner and Standish leaving town?"

"It's just for this weekend, at least for now. I've assigned them to deliver the papers that you said you needed sent to Red Bluff. They'll be back Monday morning. They're doing the morning and evening patrols until noon tomorrow in exchange for being allowed the extra time. I've cancelled the out of town patrols starting with the afternoon patrol tomorrow and ending with the morning patrol on Monday."

"That sounds reasonable to me. Why are the others objecting to it?"

"Because it won't just be this weekend. Ezra wants to enter a poker tournament over in Bitter Creek in just over a month. To buy the saloon and have enough money to enter the tournament, he's going to need twelve hundred dollars. When he plays here in town, he normally wins between twenty to fifty dollars a week. He'll need to be winning two to three hundred dollars a week to get up that twelve hundred before the tournament starts. Which means he’ll have to try his luck in the bigger towns. He'll need to take off every weekend from now until then to find games that pay enough for him to win the money that he needs."

"And Tanner won't let him go alone?"

"Nope. Vin watches his back when he's playing, especially when he's out of town."

"Do you think he'll cheat to win?"

"I don't think that he'll need to. He's good, real good. Only time I've actually suspected that he was cheating, he was playing a man that was cheating. Fella got real frustrated that he was cheating and still couldn't win. Called Ezra a cheat. The boys were in the saloon and like to have put a half-dozen bullets in him. They all knew the fella was cheating. None of them ever actually saw Ezra cheat, I just figure that he probably was given that the other fella was cheating, and Ezra was still winning."

"So they're doing double duty on the patrols the first half of the week in order to have the last half of the week off?"

"Yeah," Chris confirmed then added, "they told me to tell you that they would be willing to forego being paid for the four days that they are gone. They are counting the half day on Thursday and half day on Monday as one day."

"But they are pulling double shifts on the days that they are in town," Mary protested. "It hardly seems fair to cut their pay when they are still doing their share of the work."

"The others seem to think that having Vin and Ezra gone over the weekend more than makes up for the double shifts at the first of the week," Chris said.

"Why? Didn't you say that you were cancelling the patrols for the days that Vin and Ezra will be out of town?"

"Mary, I'm on Vin and Ezra's side in this. I think that them buying the saloon and putting down roots here is a good thing. It's just that the weekend is when the ranch hands come into town and that is when most of the trouble starts. There are a lot of the hands and they get drunk and start fights, break up the saloons and disturb the peace."

"So, get some of the townsmen to help out on Friday and Saturday nights," Mary said. "If Vin and Ezra are willing to forego their pay for the days that they are gone, let them take the morning patrols Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the afternoon patrol on Mondays. That will give them four days per week that they are paid and three that they are not, and they won't have to do double duty. That is much more fair than them doing double duty on the days that they are here and still not getting paid when they are out of town. Otherwise you need to pay them when they are gone. All of you have at one time or another been away from town and still drawn your pay."

She leaned forward, "If you do it that way you will have six dollars to pay townsmen to assist you on Friday and Saturday nights. If you pay the townsmen the same as you are paying Vin and Ezra, you could hire three men with six dollars since you only need them for two nights. In fact since most of the trouble occurs late in the afternoons and evenings, you could pay for half a day's work and hire six extra men for the two nights."

Travis nodded, "That sounds fair to me. I was concerned about Tanner and Standish doing double duty, especially if this goes on for what, five weeks until the tournament and then the weekend of the tournament? Standish is going to need to be at his best if he is to win the money they need. None of this will do them any good if he is so exhausted from being overworked that he can't concentrate on the game."

Chris breathed a sigh of relief, "That's what I was thinking, but I wanted your agreement before I told them that."

"Then it's agreed, officially, Standish and Tanner will have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, without pay. They will leave on Thursday afternoon and return on Monday mornings. They will be assigned the afternoon patrols on Mondays, and the morning patrols on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They will receive full pay for those four days."

He stood up and held out his hand to Chris to shake on it. "You may tell Misters Wilmington, Dunne, Sanchez and Jackson that that is my final decision in this matter. You may tell Tanner, Standish and Miss Rocillos that I will be reading over the paperwork on the partnership and the company this weekend and will have an answer concerning whether I will represent them on Monday."

"I told Vin and Ezra that they'd get paid for this weekend, since I'm assigning them to deliver the papers to Red Bluff for you."

Travis nodded, "That's fair enough. This deal starts when they return on Monday," he said.

"Thank you, Judge," Chris said, taking the hand and shaking it.

As Travis headed up the stairs to freshen up and take a quick nap before making an official appearance at the jail, Chris turned to Mary who had risen to walk him out.

"Thank you, too, Mary. A lot of people wouldn't have been as gracious as you were towards Inez considering her situation."

Mary laughed softly, "Inez is my friend, as are Vin and Ezra. Besides, did you see Ezra? He was armed to the teeth. He must have had every gun he owns on him and he was ready to shoot anyone who said a harsh word to Inez."

Chris chuckled, too. "Man's a walking arsenal most days and today, well let's just say that I'm pretty sure he was carrying twice as many guns as usual."

"Exactly my point," she laughed again.

Chris smiled down at her as they reached the front door, and she thought that he might kiss her, but he glanced out the window at the passersby and shook his head slightly. Taking her hands he said softly, "You're a very special lady, Lady."

She smiled back at him then stood on tiptoes to brush her lips across his cheek. Damn the passersby. Let them gawk.

He grinned at her, then turned and unlocked the door, opening it and stepping out.

She left the closed sign turned outward and closed the door back and re-locked it.

Orin would be resting for at least an hour or two and she had a friend to visit. She wanted to reassure Inez that they were still friends and that she would be standing by her.

TBC


	5. Red Bluff: Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vin and Ezra visit Red Bluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Original characters ahead.

*******

Mid-morning Friday in a stand of trees on a hillside just outside Red Bluff

*******

Vin covered the glass of his spyglass with his hand to ensure that no sunlight glinted off it, as Ezra returned the hat that he had been shading the glass with to his head and reached for the spyglass. Vin took off his own hat and held it in position to shade the glass as Ezra studied the town below with the glass. 

They weren't ready for anyone to know that they were here yet. Making sure that no one saw a reflection from the spyglass was a part of that.

"Awful lotta people down there. Way more'n last time we was here," Vin said.

"It appears that the railroad has arrived since last we ventured here. More people means more money," Ezra responded.

"An' there's more like ta be trouble. Rich folk don't like the have-nots taking what's theirs."

Ezra smiled. "Then we'll just have to have an escape plan in place. Did you note the rise behind the row of saloons and bawdy houses?"

"Yep. Nice stand of trees there. Most as nice as this'n."

"Indeed and the privy is between the saloons and the rise. A man could ask where the privy is and excuse himself ta use it…" Ezra suggested.

"An' somebody could be waitin' fer him with the horses saddled in that stand of trees. Be gone for any body was like ta get to wonderin' what was takin' so long," Vin finished.

"Let's circle round and check it out. I'd like to know just how much of the town is visible from that viewpoint and if there is a way out of it without returning through the town."

"Ya got ta deliver them papers today, ya know," Vin reminded him.

"After lunch is acceptable. We should not have arrived as of yet. Had the moon not been full and we determined to arrive in time to reconnoiter, we would not have arrived until after lunch, so I estimate that we have at least two more hours before we are expected."

"Plenty a'time ta check it out then," Vin agreed.

It took the better part of an hour to work their way around the town to the area that they wished to explore but when they arrived what they discovered made it worthwhile.

The rise was actually the intersection of two small hills, there was a small saddle between the two hills making it easy to slip through to the other side. On the side away from the town there was a small hollow that would make a perfect dry camp. The back side of the rise was a gentle slope and Vin quickly found a spot where he could lie on top of the rise and see most of the town. The back side of the street full of saloons and bawdy houses was clearly visible.

"So, what now? We circle back and ride inta town on the main road?"

"I do. You stay here," Ezra said,

"Ez, I ain't lettin' ya go down there alone."

"I did not think you would, however, I believe it best if you remain here until dark. Once it's dark you can slip into town and fetch Chaucer from the livery. I will use the same one as I did last time we were here. You bring him back here, then slip back into town and come to Miz Emmaline's. I'll be there. I won't sit into any games until you arrive to watch my back but there is no reason that anyone else should be aware that we are together."

Vin sighed but nodded, acknowledging that although Ezra hadn't mentioned it, the larger crowds increased the possibility of someone recognizing him as a wanted man. "Sounds okay, but you be careful."

"I will, beloved. We are too close to having everything we have ever wanted to get careless now." He stepped close slipping his arms around Vin's waist and laying his head on Vin's chest. "I shall try to make sure that I am within your line of sight as much as possible."

Vin nodded again, "I'll settle Peso, then be right up here with my glass and my rifle. You get in trouble ya signal me. If I've got a shot, I'll take it an' you high tail it outta there and we're gone."

Ezra stepped back slipping out of Vin's arms and removing the tan trail coat he wore. Moving to his saddle he opened the carpetbag that he had looped over the saddle horn, leaving it hanging from the saddle horn by one handle so that he could remove his dark gray tail coat and the silver and black vest he normally wore with it. Removing his shoulder holster he hung it and the Colt Conversion in it over the saddle horn. He quickly put the vest on over his shirt, then put his shoulder holster back on. He checked the derringer in its rig then finally he settled the dark gray coat over it all, smoothing the lines so that the two guns were virtually unnoticeable. 

Turning to Vin and striking a pose, chin up, shoulders back, back straight, he asked, "Do Ah look like an upstanding citizen that the Honorable Judge Orin Travis would entrust with the ever so important task of delivering important papers to his fellow officer of the court, Judge Andrew Havisham?"

"Yeah," Vin said, smiling as he stepped forwards to straighten Ezra's cravat, "ya look plumb respectable."

"Good," Ezra grinned, as he made the ace of spades appear in his hand and dance across his knuckles, "they'll never see me coming."

"Ya be careful," Vin repeated, "Ya win us lots of money but don't go gettin' hurt doin' it, ya hear me?"

"I hear you and again, I promise I will not sit down to the table until you arrive."

"Don't make promises ya can't keep. If ya get roped inta a game afore I get there and there ain't no easy way outta it, go ahead on, just remember that I ain't there an' ya gotta watch yer own back like ya use ta afore I went an' spoilt ya."

"You have my word, if I cannot avoid a game before you arrive, I will be doubly cautious."

*******

Half an hour later Ezra walked Chaucer down the main street of the bustling town, stopping in front of the jail and addressing the man sitting on the porch with a sheriff's badge pinned to his shirt and a shotgun resting across his lap.

"Good day, sir, may I presume that you are the sheriff?"

The last time that he and Vin had been to Red Bluff nearly three months prior there had not been a sheriff.

"Yep," the man replied, his black eyes studying Ezra suspiciously. 

Ezra was glad that Vin had agreed not to ride in with him. This was the kind of sheriff that kept up with the wanted posters that crossed his desk and most likely remembered most of them. Vin was safer not appearing here in the light of day.

"My name is Ezra Standish, I work for Judge Travis in Four Corners. I have some papers for Judge Havisham from him. Could you direct me as to where I might find him to deliver them?"

"Huh," the sheriff huffed, he stood up and shifted the shotgun to cradle in his arms. He was as tall as Buck but gaunt, almost skeletal, "I'm Carl Porter, sheriff of Red Bluff. The judge is over ta the Grey Goose having lunch. I'll walk over with you."

"Thank you," Ezra said politely, swinging down from Chaucer and draping the reins around the saddle horn. He fell in step with the sheriff. 

Chaucer ambled along behind them, following Ezra.

The sheriff looked back at Chaucer and raised an eyebrow.

Ezra grinned at him. "He's very intelligent and badly spoilt. He knows that I keep peppermints in my pockets for him and if he follows me when I do not tie him somewhere, I will eventually give him one or two pieces."

Carl nodded. "So, ya work fer Travis. Ya a lawyer?"

"While I am indeed, admitted to the bar and licensed to practice law, that is not the duty that I perform in Four Corners."

"What do ya do?"

"I am one of the Seven, Judge Travis' Regulators."

"Reckon yer pretty good with that gun then."

"Good enough… and smart enough to know that going against a man with a shotgun is fool's play."

The sheriff nodded as they stepped up on the boardwalk in front of the restaurant.

Ezra turned to Chaucer, dipping a hand in his pocket and offering the horse a peppermint. He scratched Chaucer's chin then said, "Wait here. I shall return shortly to find you a nice stall and a bit of grain. Be good and I might even add some molasses "

Chaucer nodded his head as if he understood and side-stepped out of line with the steps to stand beside them, close to the hitching post but not at it.

"Ya think he understands ya?"

Ezra shrugged, "I have no idea; however, he seldom wanders off so, perhaps he at least understands to stay."

The sheriff nodded then gestured towards the door of the restaurant, "Judge is in here." He led the way in, walking straight over to a table near the window, where a tall, slim man with white hair and a neat goatee sat.

"Judge, this here fella says he's got some papers fer ya from Judge Travis."

The Judge started to push back his chair and rise but Ezra shook his head, "No need to stand, sir. This will only take a moment."

"Didn't Travis tell you to be certain of my identity before you deliver the papers?" Havisham asked.

"You are exactly as he described you and the sheriff has indicated that you are the correct person. None the less, you are correct. I have an identifying phrase for you: The sun is golden at the dawn."

Havisham nodded and replied, "And blood red going down."

"Excellent," Ezra said, reaching into his inside pocket, allowing both the sheriff and the Judge to see the Colt Conversion hanging in its shoulder holster as he removed the papers from the inside jacket pocket.

"I was told that there would be two of you," Havisham said as he wiped his hands on his napkin then reached for the packet.

"My companion is the Seven's tracker. He is disquieted by large crowds, preferring the quiet splendor of nature. Once he saw just how much the town has grown since our last visit, how many people that there were here, he decided that he would prefer to camp outside of town and await my return. I saw no reason why he should not."

"Ya wasn't worried about coming in alone?" the sheriff asked.

Ezra shrugged, "I can take care of myself. Could I not, I would not be one of the Seven. It is simply one of Mister Larabee's rules that no one of us is to travel to another town alone. I will take a stroll out to Vin's camp and check-in with him before I settle down for the night. If I do not show up, he will come looking for me and believe me, no one wants him to have to come looking for me. It will not end well."

He glanced out the window and saw that Chaucer was eyeing the steps with a speculative look.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I promised my horse that I would be back soon to find him a livery and some grain, he appears to be getting impatient." He tipped his hat to the Judge, "Good day, sir."

As he walked away, Havisham pushed back his plate and lay the packet of papers in front of him as the sheriff had a seat, propped his shotgun against one of the spare chairs and signaled the waitress to bring him a plate.

Havisham pulled out a letter that simply had, 'Andy' written across the front of it. Opening it he began to read, then chuffed a laugh, before, handing it over to the sheriff. 

"It appears, Carl, that Orin's messenger comes with a warning. It seems he's a mighty fine card player," Havisham chuckled.

"Woulda never guessed. Said he was a lawyer," Carl leaned back as the waitress sat a plate in front of him. "Ya reckon he's a cheat?"

"Orin says that he's never caught him cheating and Orin has quite the eye for spotting a cheat."

"Looks awful young ta be that good."

"Orin says he's Maude Standish's boy," Havisham said.

"Who's Maude Standish?"

"One of the best female poker players, in the west, used to be quite a draw at tournaments. If she taught that young man to play, you had best not sit at the table if you can't afford to lose." 

Havisham chuckled again, a slow grin crossing his face.

"I know that grin," Porter said, "what're ya up ta, Andy?"

Havisham just grinned wider. "There are a couple of gentlemen in town, with more of my money in their pockets than I'd like. They could do with being taken down a peg or two. I believe that they have more than a little of your money in their pockets as well."

"More'n I can really afford," Porter said with a grimace. "Yer gonna introduce'em ta him?"

"I do believe that they promised me a chance to win my money back. I think I'll just invite him to join us. I'll play a couple of hands then bow out."

"Ya think that he can beat those two sharps?"

"I have ten dollars that says he takes them to the cleaners," Havisham said. "Orin would not have warned me against playing him unless he was Almighty good." 

"Yer on. Those two are cheats. Ain't figured out how they're a'cheating, but they're cheats right enough!" Carl said angrily. He had lost more than he could really afford to when he had sat in on a game trying to figure out how they were cheating.

*******

Ezra took Chaucer to the livery that he had used the last time that he had been to Red Bluff, unfortunately it was full up. A silver dollar later and one of the horses had been evicted to the corral and Chaucer was settled in one of the nicer stalls, one that was slightly larger than most of the stalls.

He hated to have to bribe the stable hand, but he had told Vin that Chaucer would be there, and he didn't want to have to make the long walk up to the camp to tell him that he had had to find other accommodations for his horse.

He chose one of the smaller saloons to have lunch at then checked into the hotel, paying for the night in advance. Once in the room he took off his coat and carefully hung it on the dressing valet. Removing the Colt Conversion from the shoulder holster he lay it on the bedside table. He took off the Remington and hung that rig on the bedpost. Removing his boots, he drew the Remington out of its holster and lay down on the bed. He scooted over to the middle of the bed then popped the derringer out of it's rig and into his hand. With the Remington in his left hand and the derringer in his right he lifted his head from the bed. First he sighted down the barrel of the Remington towards the door, then turning his head he sighted on the window with the derringer, fixing their positions in his mind. Anyone trying to come through either would get a surprise. He might not hit them with the first shot but he'd come close enough to make them duck and give him time to roll off the bed and get a better aim.

He lay back on the bed, relaxing with the comforting weight of a gun in each hand.

He would sleep until sundown, then head out for Miz Emmaline's Fancy House.

He smiled at the memories of the last time that he and Vin had been at Miz Emmaline's. Depending on how the night went at the gaming table, perhaps he could persuade Vin to spend the night there with him.

He drifted off to sleep with his lips curved in a small smile.

*******

It was full dark when he awoke. A look at his watch said that he had overslept by nearly two hours. Vin would have already moved Chaucer up to the dry camp and be at Miz Emmaline's looking for him.

Oh, well it couldn't be helped. 

Perhaps riding most of the night last night to arrive well before they needed to hadn't been the best plan. Still with six hours sleep under his belt, he felt well-rested and ready to play all night if need be, so the couple of hours extra sleep hadn't gone amiss. It was doubtful that Vin was worried yet. He knew that Ezra had had only a couple of hours sleep since they had risen for morning patrol yesterday morning. They had camped briefly between sunset and moonrise but before this, that nap had been the only sleep he had had in nearly thirty-six hours.

He washed his face, combed his hair and put on his boots and coat. Smoothing the lay of the coat, he checked his guns then picked up his carpetbag and saddlebags and headed out. He'd check them at Miz Emmaline's. If he had to make a strategic withdrawal and leave them behind, Miz Emmaline would quietly send them back to him in Four Corners. 

There was a reason why he cultivated friendships with women of all stations. Most men overlooked and discounted women, ignoring their intelligence and strengths regardless of their social standing. Ezra, however, had had Maude as a mother and he had learned at an early age just how smart, tough, canny and sometimes downright ruthless a woman could be. He had also learned that women appreciated a man that treated them with respect while also treating them as equals. Particularly one that wasn't always after the one thing that most men were always after. 

Miz Emmaline was a friend as were any number of her girls. He treated them like ladies and equals and they responded with loyalty and affection. 

Travis and Larabee wondered how he knew so much about what was going on in the territory. 

It was simple, he was on a first name basis with not just half the working girls in the territory, but the madams as well, not to mention waitresses, bartenders, store clerks, and hotel maids all over the territory. The little people who heard everything but were ignored by almost everyone. A few manners and a good tip went a long way with the little people.

Manners, grandmother had said, cost you nothing and are never wasted. Always say, 'please' and 'thank you' and address people by their names. Talk _to_ people, never _at_ them. 

Simple rules that had served him well. They had allowed him to set up and run one of the most effective spy rings of the war. Of course the memory exercises that Maude had taught him as a child when she was teaching him to play cards had been an immense help as well, allowing him to keep track of his people without ever having to write anything down about them. Which meant that when the war was over, he and his people had just ghosted away, never to even be suspected as spies. A good thing considering that they were on the losing side and that most of his 'operatives' were women.

He trotted down the stairs and strolled across the lobby. Outside he worked his way down the street, in the opposite direction from Miz Emmaline's. He made quick stops at several saloons, chatting briefly with the bartenders and a few hostesses before crossing the street and working his way up to Miz Emmaline's.

He sighed quietly as he stepped into the front parlor of Miz Emmaline's. The thick walls and heavy draperies of the room deadened the noise from the street. Miz Emmaline had built to last. Unlike the majority of the houses along the street, her establishment was built of brick and even the interior walls were thick, built to contain noise. That may have had more to do with what went on behind some of those walls but none the less, the house was blessedly quiet compared to others on the street.

Miz Emmaline came to greet him herself, kissing his cheek and whispering that Vin was in the main salon, then stepping back and telling her butler to see to it that Ezra's bags were taken care of.

"Should Mister Tanner and I need to depart abruptly, you will make arrangements to get my bags back to me, won't you, darling?" Ezra asked the comely redheaded madam with a smile.

"Of course, my dearest boy. Although I would hope that you and Vin might be able to stay at least one night."

"I hope for that as well, as we need to talk. Events have transpired that may require some…adjustments to our relationship. Nothing bad I assure you, just minor adjustments to accommodate a change in mine and Vin's lives."

"I am intrigued. Make sure that you manage to stay," she hugged him. 

"I shall endeavor to do so. Could you take a message to Vin? We are being rather discreet tonight."

"Certainly," Emmaline said.

"Tell him that I apologize for being tardy. It seems I was rather more tired than I thought I was. There is no cause for alarm, and I am ready to play for as long as necessary to meet our goal. Oh, and my name tonight is Ethan Winthrop, an attorney from Black Rock."

She nodded then signaled one of her girls to come over, "Melony," she said quietly, "escort Mister Winthrop to the gaming room and introduce him around." She stressed the last name.

"It'll be my pleasure, Emma," Melony said with a smile linking her arm through Ezra's, "You haven't been around in a while, Ezra," she said familiarly. "When I saw Vin, I was hoping that you would be here, too. Now, how would you like me to introduce you?"

"You may introduce me as Ethan or Mister Winthrop, an attorney from Black Rock."

"Ooooh, playing more than one type of game tonight, are we?" she giggled, knowing that using a different name meant that he was planning to walk away with a whole lot of someone else's money and didn't want them to know where he was actually from. Snuggling close to him she smiled up at him, "Ethan Winthrop, attorney from Black Rock it is."

Ezra let her cling to him as he slowly made his way around the room, checking out each table, seeing who was there that he knew, what the table stakes were and how the pots looked. 

One nice thing about gambling in a bawdy house, half the men there were using false names and no one who knew who he was, would be likely to challenge his alias. He spotted Judge Havisham and sheriff Porter at one of the tables and drifted that way.

If anyone were to challenge his alias it would be the sheriff, he had after all introduced himself to the man as Ezra Standish. He made certain to approach the table from an angle that allowed both men the opportunity to see him coming.

Neither gave any indication of ever having seen him before.

_Well now, that was interesting._

He drifted closer, stopping only long enough to help himself to a drink from a tray that one of the hostesses was carrying past him. She shook a finger at him, but smiled as he winked at her, tipping the glass towards her to make sure that she knew that he'd taken one of the whiskey glasses that were filled with tea for the hostesses.

It was a subtle signal, but she would know that when he sat down at one of the tables, she was to make sure that he got tea instead of whiskey. One thing about being raised in saloons and bawdy houses was knowing how things worked. The hostesses seldom actually drank whiskey.

He slowly circled the table, sipping at his drink, not appearing to be paying too much attention to the game but actually watching closely. After a few minutes he moved on to the next table then drifted back.

The Judge looked up, "Hello, Mel. Whose your friend?"

The hair on Ezra's neck stood up. Something was definitely up. The Judge knew that he was one of Travis' men and Sheriff Porter knew exactly who he was. Porter appeared to be quite friendly with the Judge which meant that the Judge knew exactly who he was, but both of them were acting as if they had never seen him before.

The Judge continued to look up at Ezra, but the sheriff was now looking at the two men on the other side of the table, both dressed in funeral black like a matched pair of undertakers.

Ezra gave a small bow, "Ethan Winthrop, attorney-at-law out of Black Rock and you sir, are? _If they wanted to pretend they had never met him, so be it._

"Judge Havisham, and this is Sheriff Porter on my right and to my left, His Honor, the Mayor, Ben Lakeland. Across the table are two gentlemen representing the railroad, Mister Neel and Mister O'Dowl." 

He paused long enough to give the Mayor a significant look then continued, "Would you care to join us? Ben was just saying that he's lost about all he can afford for the night."

"Hummmm," Ezra said, stalling as he added up the clues. Three prominent townsmen losing to a pair of strangers, or at least relative newcomers, two newcomers who look enough alike to be brothers but using different last names. No doubt, the Judge and Sheriff believed the newcomers to be cheats but had not been able to prove it. "Perhaps in a bit. I've not had supper yet and was about to avail myself of the lovely buffet that Miz Emmaline has out."

He stepped back and drew Melony in close again, turning to go. He could feel eyes on his back as he made his way back out of the room. As soon as they were out of sight of the room, he slipped free of Melony's grasp. 

"Darling, I need you to find Vin and give him a message. Tell him to take one of the girls, and set a watch on the Judge's table until I return. Tell him to pay particular attention to the matched pair of black birds, he'll know who I mean when he sees them. Tell him that I want to know if they are cheating and how." He paused then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to find Miz Emmaline, come find me after you deliver the message to Vin."

A moment later he was tapping on the door to Miz Emmaline's office. The young woman that helped her with her correspondence opened the door and turned to announce him.

Emmaline must have told her to let him in, as she stepped aside, let him pass then closed the door behind him.

"Is something wrong, Ezra?"

"I need to know, have you said anything to the Judge or the Sheriff concerning me?"

"Of course not!" she said, indignantly

"I did not think that you would but, then why are they trying to get me into a game with them and a pair of black birds named Neel and O'Dowl?"

"Those two!" Emmaline said in loathing. "They claim to work for the railroad, but I haven't seen any proof of it. All I've seen them do is gamble, drink and insult my girls. They've been in town for a week and a half. They come here every night to gamble but that is all they do, except drink and treat my girls like servants."

"They don't visit with your girls?"

"No, if it weren't for the gambling and drinking, I'd think that they were preachers," Emmaline snapped.

"Are they cheating?"

"Everyone thinks so, but no one has been able to catch them." 

"But why do they want me in the game?"

"Andy has a letter from Judge Travis. I didn't see much of it, but I do believe that it may have been a warning about you."

"Judge Travis _warned_ Judge Havisham about _me_?"

"I believe so, but all I _saw_ was the name 'Standish' and the words 'don't play', I'm just guessing that it was a warning not to play poker with you."

Ezra gave a small snort, "Let me get this straight, Travis warns Havisham not to play poker with me, so Havisham decides to set me up to play against a pair of card cheats that he has not been able to prove are card cheats."

"That sounds like something that Andy would do. So, are you leaving?"

"Good Lord, no!" Ezra said with a grin, "I haven't had a good game of cheater's poker in years. I came here to win money. If I can do that _and_ get on Judge Havisham's good side while skinning a couple of cheats, well, hallelujah and amen! Let me at'em!" 

*******

It was almost an hour later that Ezra returned to the gaming room. He had taken his time at the buffet then sent Melony for Vin's report on the two men at the table with the Judge and the Sheriff.

According to Vin the two men were holding out cards. O'Dowl was tucking them in his left sleeve and the Neel either into his right boot or right jacket pocket. They were smooth, almost as good at slight of hand as Ezra was, according to Vin, but they weren't good enough that Vin couldn't spot them with his eagle-eyes, especially since Ezra had long since taught him exactly what to look for. 

Knowing going in that the two men were cheating, and relatively sure that the Judge and Sheriff were both hoping that he could expose them, Ezra was sure that he could cheat as needed with no consequences, at least not legal ones.

When Ezra and Melony casually strolled back over to the table, the piles of money in front of His Honor, the Mayor and the Sheriff were both noticeably smaller. The Judge appeared to have been holding his own.

Havisham looked up when Ezra stopped beside his chair, "Well, Winthrop," he said, "ready to try your hand?"

Ezra gave the table a doubtful look, "The stakes look rather high for me. What are they?"

"You need five hundred dollars to sit in," one of the black birds as Ezra had dubbed them said, coldly.

"Hummm," Ezra stalled.

"If you don't have enough on you, I could spot you a couple of hundred, just until the bank opens in the morning," Havisham said.

 _Really?_ Ezra thought, _you must want me in this game very badly. Just how much money have those two taken off of you?_

"Oh, it's not that I do not have the money on me, it's just that I've never played with any of you, do not actually know any of you… I mean, how do I know that this is… well, a _respectable_ game?" He asked, widening his eyes innocently even as he stressed the word respectable making it plain that he was asking if the game was honest.

Vin, who was standing across the table behind one of the black birds turned away, suddenly having a coughing fit. Christ! Ez was laying it on thick.

Sheriff Porter spoke up, "Don't reckon ya could find a more _respectable_ game seein's how, the town sheriff and a federal judge are sitting at the table along with the mayor and a couple of fellas from the railroad."

"Indeed," Havisham assured him, "this is a most _respectable_ game." He put the same stress on the word as Ezra had, indicating that he thought that the game was anything but honest.

"Well, then, I suppose…" Ezra said, seeming to waver, as he drew a thick roll of bills from his coat pocket, "That in light of that, that I could sit in on a hand or two. That is if y'all have room at the table."

Ezra noted the look that passed between Neel and O'Dowl at the sight of the wad of money.

"You can have my seat," the mayor said, obviously relieved to be leaving the table. "If I don't get home soon, the wife will have the rolling pin out to greet me."

He quickly vacated his seat and Ezra took it, laying the thick roll of cash in front of him. He looked at the cards laying on the table in front of him then pushed them away, "Perhaps we could have a fresh deck."

"Certainly," Havisham said, turning to call to the bartender, "Henry! Bring us a fresh deck!" before either of the two black birds could object.

When one of the hostesses brought the deck over, Havisham took them then handed them to Ezra, "Since you just joined us, why don't you deal?"

"Why thank you, sir," Ezra said and breaking the seal on the box, quickly riffled the cards then began an awkward shuffle, being sure to fumble them a couple of times.

The two black birds exchanged looks that plainly said, 'What a pigeon, let's pluck him'. 

Four and a half hours later they weren't looking anywhere near as happy to have him at the table, given that he now had the largest pile of money sitting in front of him and there was over a thousand dollars in the pot in the center of the table.

O'Dowl, who had just gone all in, dead certain that his full house was the winning hand, stared at the Royal Flush in spades that Ezra had just laid out on the table and leaped to his feet with a snarled, "You're cheating!" grabbing for his gun.

Ezra triggered his derringer and put a bullet through O'Dowl's wrist even as he pulled the Colt Conversion out of its shoulder holster and pressed it to the side of Neel's neck.

"Now, now, gentlemen, while I must admit that I was indeed cheating," Ezra said, "it was, I assure you, purely self-defense given that the two of you were cheating long before I sat down at the table. Sheriff, if you would kindly check his left sleeve, I believe you will find at least two cards tucked up there. As for his partner, Mister Neel, I believe that he has one in his right boot and another in his right coat pocket."

It didn't take Porter long to find the hidden cards. He quickly summoned a couple of deputies and they started hustling the two men out, on the way to the jail, O'Dowl complaining bitterly about his injured wrist. 

Porter instructed one of the deputies to send for the railroad's doctor to tend the man once they were locked up.

Ezra stood up and began gathering up the money from the pot, automatically straightening and sorting it even as he told Porter, "May I suggest that you confiscate any moneys that they may have in their possession to use to reimburse anyone who has played with them since they arrived in town."

He peeled off several bills and tossed them down in front of the sheriff, "There is the five hundred fifty-seven dollars that you have lost since I sat down at the table." 

He peeled off a significantly larger sheaf of bills and held them out to the Judge, "And here is the one-thousand three-hundred forty-three dollars that you lost after I sat down." 

He folded the rest of the bills and slipped them into his pocket. "Ah am keeping the rest for services rendered," he said, boldly looking the Judge in the eyes. "Now, sir, perhaps you could tell me just exactly what it was that Travis told you about me in that letter that led you to maneuver me into this game."

Havisham laughed, "He told me not to play poker with you, that you would skin me alive… and to make damn sure that you didn't get anywhere near any dynamite that might be lying around."

"Dammit!" Ezra huffed, "that man never wants me to have any fun!"

*******

After the two cheats were hauled off to jail, and the Sheriff and Judge Havisham had called it a night, Ezra and Vin decided to stay on at Emmaline's at least for the night. With Miz Emmaline's agreement they went to get the horses, since they didn't need to ride out, and stabled them at Miz Emmaline's with her horses where Miz Emmaline's son, Kyle, who ran the stables and took care of the horses, could spoil them.

Finally they closed the door to the suite that they usually rented when they stayed at Miz Emmaline's and prepared for bed.

Ezra dug through the carpetbag that Miz Emmaline had returned to him and got out his night shirt, changing into it as he and Vin talked.

"Ya won a heap of money offa them cheats. We gonna need ta keep taking the weekends out of town?" Vin asked.

"We don't _need_ to," Ezra assured him, "however, I would _like_ to."

"'Xplain."

"Including the thousand that I started with, I have in my possession forty-seven-hundred-forty-five dollars at this moment. The one thousand that I started with and an additional two hundred goes to purchase the saloon. One thousand goes to enter the Bitter Creek Poker Tournament next month. That leaves twenty-five-hundred-forty-five dollars. I know that sounds like a lot, but I would like to keep one thousand of that as operating expenses for the saloon, which would leave fifteen-hundred-forty-five dollars."

"Still a heap of money, better'n three year's wages, considering that we get paid a dollar a day."

"Indeed, but we need to think ahead. As we expand our business interests in Four Corners, we are going to be spending less and less time as peacekeepers. Oh, we'll still ride out when we're needed, but daily patrols, and jail duty? Anyone can do that. Hell, Missus Travis has been known to cover the jail when we all had to leave town and we had someone locked up. By continuing to take the weekends off and playing in the larger towns, we will accomplish two things. We will get the other five accustomed to our not being there all the time, particularly on the weekends and we will build up a reserve of money. I truly believe that I will win the tournament, however it is best not to count on my doing so."

"Ya ain't said much about why ya wanted us ta form that company, ya drew up the papers on. This about that? Ya got plans to buy more'n the saloon, Ain't ya?"

"Yes, the hotel behind the saloon is standing empty and is for sale as is the empty building next to it. The widow Broadhurst who runs the boarding house directly across the alley from it wants to go back east. She has been looking for a buyer, but no one wants to meet her price."

"An' she's a stubborn ole bat, won't take no less'n what she wants fer it." He sat down beside Ezra on the edge of the bed, thinking out loud. "There's an empty building next ta tha boarding house and the cigar store is barely hanging on. That empty building connects ta the cigar store. Ya could cut a door an' make it one place. Iff'n ya could get Digger Dave's ya'd have that whole section. That what ya got in mind?"

"Close enough. Although if I win the poker tournament, I am considering the empty building on the other side of the cigar store and the old hotel as well."

"That's that whole end of town," Vin said. "Ya think that there'll be 'nough money for that?

"Yes, I do. There are nearly three dozen gamblers invited to the tournament. If even one third shows up there will be at least ten thousand dollars in the pot. Every player that sits in the game brings another thousand dollars to the pot and it is winner takes all," Ezra said with a smirk as he lay back on the bed and pulled Vin down with him. "But I believe that we have better things to do right now than talk. It's after two o'clock in the morning and I know you well enough to know that you will be up at the crack of dawn, so we'd best be thinking about getting some sleep."

Vin chuckled, "Might be up at the crack a dawn, but ya know I won't be leaving ya in this big ole bed by yerself."

"I know but that just means that you'll be waking me up," Ezra chided.

"I'll let ya go back ta sleep after. Yer gonna wanna play some more poker tonight ain'tcha?"

"Indeed," Ezra said, "I'll leave the forty-five hundred with you. Take the two hundred-forty-five dollars and find some smaller games in the afternoon then see if the Judge will go for a high stakes game later in the evening. Havisham played a good game tonight. I'd like to see how he does when no one is cheating."

"You'll still whip him," Vin said before leaning in for a kiss.

Ezra chuckled, wrapping his arms around Vin's neck, pulling him down and deepening the kiss.

It was wonderful to be somewhere safe, where he and Vin could make love without having to worry about being disturbed, even if he had had to pay extra for the guard outside their door.

TBC


	6. Red Bluff: Saturday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra wins both money and friends.

________________________________________________________

Ezra awoke slowly, smiling at the feel of Vin's hands running gently over his hips, slowly rucking up the silk nightshirt that he wore. His breathing hitched, just enough to tell Vin that he was awake.

Vin shifted, moving to lay partially on top of Ezra, leaning in to kiss him and murmur, "I ever tell ya how much I like this nightgown a'yers?"

"Nightshirt," Ezra corrected automatically.

"Naw, ain't no nightshirt this fancy an' frilly. This thing's a nightgown, all silk an' lace an' fancy stitch work. Prettiest thing I ever did see an' seein' ya in it, well that's a mighty fine sight. Love the way it feels when I gather it up in my hands, slidin' it up outta my way, it's so soft an' warm, feels almost as fine as yer skin."

Ezra moaned. It wasn't often that Vin felt the need to talk when they were making love but when he did something about the combination of his raspy voice and the gentle touch of his hands drove Ezra wild. He arched up, trying to get more contact, but Vin sat back on his haunches, tossing the covers back so that he could see Ezra in all his glory.

"Love lookin' at ya. Love that you can get hard as a rock just from a few touches and the sound of my voice." Vin trailed one edge of the silk nightgown across Ezra's cock and chuckled wickedly as he watched the half hard organ rise to full erection, just from the touch. He pushed the silk garment higher, rucking it across Ezra's chest, making sure that it rubbed enticingly across Ezra's already erect nipples.

Ezra whimpered in frustration and arched again, "Please," he begged, "please, Vin!"

Vin's grin widened, "What do ya want, Love? This?" he asked bending to catch one of the hard nubs between his teeth and tug on it.

"Yes! Oh, God! Yes! That." Ezra babbled as he arched up again, grabbing Vin and pulling him closer, this time managing to rub his cock against the thigh that Vin had between his legs.

"Or this?" Vin continued trailing kisses down Ezra's chest and across his stomach until he reached Ezra's cock and took it into his mouth. 

Ezra came almost immediately, screaming his pleasure out loud.

Vin swallowed the salty come then kissed his way back up Ezra's body to claim his mouth. It was good to be able to hear how much Ezra enjoyed their lovemaking, to be somewhere that he didn't have to muffle Ezra's cries because they couldn't afford to get caught.

They kissed leisurely for a few moments then Ezra asked, "What time is it?"

"Early. Smells like cook just put the coffee on. Ain't smelled the bacon yet so it'll be a bit yet till breakfast is ready."

"Good. I want you to take me. I want to shout my pleasure to the world, shriek and scream and not have to bury my face in a pillow to hide now much I love you and love how you make love to me."

"I wanna hear you. Love the way you beg for more, love how much you love havin' me in you. Be nice ta have a room like this at home. Might be we could ask Miz Emma how ta build one."

"That is a marvelous idea, but later, darling. We should enjoy this one while we have it," Ezra said, reaching for him again. "Make love to me."

For the next hour or so, it was a very good thing that they were in a brothel and that their room was pretty much soundproof.

*******

By the time that their guard tapped on their door and told them that breakfast was ready if they wanted it, they were up, had washed up and dressed for the day. Ezra would no doubt take a lengthy nap in the afternoon, but he wanted to check out the town during the daylight.

They had talked some the night before, while lying abed. Ezra had said as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms after making love that they needed to talk to Emmaline, explain to her about Inez and the partnership and their company and how that would affect their dealings with Emmaline and her girls.

Vin had agreed with him that if they were going to commit to the relationship with Inez and take her up on her offer to give them children, that they owed it to her to be faithful within the scope of the relationship between the three of them. Which meant that Emmaline's girls were going to be a mite disappointed. 

Vin and Ezra although committed to each other had never minded the other indulging themselves with the working girls. Inez, however, despite being pregnant without being married, was not the kind of woman that would accept her lovers being unfaithful. That she accepted that the two of them were together was miracle enough.

Besides the way that things were looking, they were going to be run ragged between the peacekeeping and getting everything that Ezra wanted to do businesswise, done.

"Ez," Vin said as they dressed, "ya said that ya wanted ta talk to Miz Emmaline this morning before her and the girls headed to bed."

Ezra replied, "Ah did, didn't Ah?"

"Best to get it over with. Emma deserves to know that we won't be coming round much at all from now on an' why."

"How do you think that she will react?"

"Hard ta tell… but I reckon she's 'nough of a realist ta know that things change. We wasn't ever gonna be permanent customers."

Ezra nodded, saying, "Yes. Most woman can be quite pragmatic about such things, working girls even more so than the 'good women'."

"What's pragmatic?"

"Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact, unlikely to have a fit," Ezra said.

"That last one in the dictionary?"

Ezra laughed, "No, but it fits. We'd best head downstairs. By this time cook should be serving the morning repast."

He chuckled as there was a knock on the door and the man that Emmaline had assigned as their bodyguard opened the door just enough to call out, "Miz Emma says iff'n y'all want breakfast ya better get on down there."

Vin laughed, "Perfect timing." 

*******

When they appeared in the brothel kitchen, joining Emmaline and the girls for breakfast, Mel gave Ezra a pout, "Was hoping y'all would have let me'n Sassy join y'all last night."

"I do apologize, my dear," Ezra said, "but that is part of what Vin and I need to talk to Emmaline and you ladies about."

"You did say that things would need to change, something about changes in your lives," Emmaline said.

"Mister Tanner and I have made a commitment to a young lady in Four Corners," Ezra informed them.

"Both of you?" Mel yelped. 

"Course both of us," Vin said, "figured y'all'd know that no woman's gonna break us apart. It was always gonna be the two of us together. Never rightly figured we'd get ta have it both ways, but it looks ta be working out that way."

"Inez is a very dear friend and has been for some time now. She has just recently found herself in a family way. The father is gone, and she does not want him back. When we learned of her… condition, we offered her any help that we could give. During the discussion it became apparent that we three had some common goals. We are all very independent-minded individuals, despite mine and Vin's feelings for each other and our feelings for her and hers for both of us. She does not wish to marry since doing so would make her unable to legally own property in her own name. Vin and I cannot marry, nor can we have children though we both would like to. All three of us wish to put down roots in Four Corners. All three of us wish to become business owners. 

"Therefore we three have entered into a partnership, both personal and business. We will help her raise her child, taking on all the duties and responsibilities of fathers. She has agreed to carry and bear at least one child for Vin and one for me after her child is born. She will be in every way our wife, except in the eyes of the law and the church. She knows and accepts that Vin and I are together and will be with each other, however both Vin and I feel that it would be wrong to be with any other woman since we have committed to her. Therefore we shall not be availing ourselves of the services of you ladies when we are able to come visit."

For a long moment there was stunned silence then, Melony said, "But you ain't really married to her! You can't be! There's two of ya!"

"Melony, you know we adore you and have the utmost respect for you. But consider this, if you were living with a man, providing him with all the comforts of being a married man and carrying his child, would you want him visiting a lady in a brothel? Be honest, darling, you would want your man at home with you and the child you were carrying, wouldn't you?"

"Mel," Emmaline said sternly, "you know he's right. You had to know that if he or Vin ever committed to a woman they wouldn't be coming back here as customers. They are both far too decent to cheat."

"But aren't they cheating on her with each other."

"No. Not if the three of them agree that they are a triad rather than a couple."

"Like them Mormons that's got two wives or more, only this lucky lady's got her two husbands!" Sassy said. "I'll miss you two, but I reckon I understand and don't let Mel upset you. She's just upset cause it ain't often that we get a pair of real gentlemen like you two in here. Reckon she's a mite jealous of this Inez, too. She'll get over it."

"Well, I doubt that we will be getting over here to Red Bluff for quite awhile in any event. I need to win as much money as I can in the next month. While I appreciate what I won here last night, I doubt that your townspeople would appreciate my winning like that every weekend. We already have plans to be in Ridge City next weekend and Eagle Rock the weekend after that. We haven't decided yet between Bristol, Long Bridge, Talmadge and Evergreen for the final two weekends before the Poker Tournament in Bitter Creek."

"You said that the partnership was both personal and business. What kind of business?" Emmaline asked.

"When we return to Four Corners, we will be buying back the Standish Tavern, only this time it will be bought through the partnership and no one will know that it is Inez, Vin and myself that are buying it. There is also a hotel and a boarding house that I have my eye on," Ezra said then added, "The hotel is directly behind the saloon. I was thinking about renting the rooms exclusively to young ladies."

"You mean working girls," Emmaline said.

"The thought had crossed my mind. I would, of course, simply be renting out the rooms. What occurs in them would be none of my concern."

Emmaline shook her head, "That won't work. Unless you have someone to run it, to be in charge, it will one big cat fight," Emmaline told him. "The girls will fight over the clients. The clients will fight over the girls. You'll need a manager, a bouncer and a cook at the very least."

"I was hoping that you would be able to assist us in setting it up. However, I want the girls to be in control of their lives. They pay a reasonable rent and board. They pay a set amount that goes to the salary of the bouncer, the cook and the maids. Other than that, they keep what they make. They should be able to make enough money that they can save it up and move on to other work," Ezra said.

"Like what?" Mel scoffed.

"Mel, I know you can read and write, and you are almost as quick at doing math in your head as I am. Should you truly want to you could easily clerk in a store, take up bookkeeping, work in an office doing correspondence etc. Most of you ladies have something that you could do rather than this."

"Who'd hire a working girl for anything else?"

"What they don't know won't hurt'em," Vin put in. "Ya move off somewhere that don't nobody know ya. Change yer name, claim ta be a widow and start over."

"Almost all of you grew up cooking, cleaning, sewing and doing general housework. You could be cooks, maids, waitresses, seamstresses," Ezra said. "The point is to get a foothold in so called 'decent society' and thereby find a husband or if you prefer to remain independent start your own business, a restaurant, a boarding house, a saloon or even your own brothel."

"And if someone recognizes you?" Sassy asked.

"Brazen it out. Slap his face, and say, 'How dare you, sir! I am a decent woman! I have never seen you before in my life.' Just be certain that you do it instantly, no hesitation at all," Ezra instructed, "Even the slightest hesitation will bring suspicion that he might be right."

"Enough of this talk," Emmaline said. "I don't need you giving my girls ideas. You said that our relationship would change but not in a bad way so what else is going to change?"

"You know that I am always delighted to hear any news that you have when I stop by and that I am willing to pay you when you send me word of something that you believe I might be interested in."

"Yes," Emmaline said, curiosity coloring the word.

"I thought we might expand on that. Red Bluff is growing by leaps and bounds since the railroad arrived. When we came in yesterday, we had no idea how large the town had grown, how much it had changed. You would send me a report every week on the changes occurring here and any other news that you think I might be interested in, anything to do with politics, business and financial news, the arrival of noteworthy persons, rumors concerning where the railroad is going from here, etcetera and I would send back payment for the information."

"How much money?" Emmaline demanded.

"I was thinking five dollars per week for general information with bonuses for information that turns out to be particularly useful."

"That's not much."

"Your girls already hear such information and discuss it with you. The only extra work would be for you to write it down and send it to me on the weekly stage and I would pay more if I am able to use the information to increase my income. For instance if you mention that a certain wealthy gentleman will be on the stage with your letter and I am able to engage him in a game and win a hundred dollars off him I would send you ten percent, that is ten dollars, as a finder's fee. The more I make from your information, the more you receive." He tilted his head and smiled charmingly at her, "If I were to win a thousand dollars off him, you would get a hundred dollars. However, just the five dollars a week, without any bonuses would be two-hundred-sixty dollars a year, a significant amount of money."

Emmaline thought a moment then nodded, "Acceptable, on one condition. You send me a report from Four Corners each month with the same type of information about your town as I am sending you about Red Bluff."

"Agreed," Ezra said.

"You're not going to want me to pay you for the information about Four Corners?" Emmaline asked suspiciously.

"No, call it an incentive to keep up the correspondence," Ezra said. "Now, perhaps you could give me some information at this time." He withdrew a folded piece of paper from his inside coat pocket and spread it out on the table. "This is a map that I drew of Red Bluff, when last we were here, it is now seriously outdated as the town has added a second street parallel to the main street and several side streets in the three months since then. I will be taking a stroll around town this morning and will update the map after, so that it shows the new streets and buildings. I will number the buildings so that, if you are agreeable, you can write down everything that you can think of concerning the buildings and businesses, the owner's names, who works there, etc. including the names of any business that I am unable to find a name to go with."

"You are planning to pay for this?"

"Yes, how much, however, is dependent on how much information you are able to add to what I am able to discover on my own. I believe that ten dollars is a good starting point, with more forthcoming dependent on the amount of information you are able to add," Ezra bargained.

Emmaline nodded, "That should be enough if you are drawing the map yourself. Will I need to write down the information or will I tell you what I know, and you write it down?"

Ezra considered for a long moment then said, "I believe that I shall write it down. Mother taught me a form of cypher that I can write and read easily but no one else can read. If you wrote it down, I would have to transcribe it into the cypher in any event. It will save time if I simply write it out as you dictate it."

Emmaline chuckled, "Good, then I won't have to worry about writer's cramp. There is going to be a lot of information."

******* 

Miz Emmaline's Fancy House had, when last they had visited, stood on the last occupied lot at the east end on the east-west running main street of Red Bluff. Ezra had noted during their observation of the town Friday morning that several of the lots to her east were now occupied by tents with signs stuck-up out-front advertising all manner of things for sale, mainly beer and whiskey and miracle cure-alls.

Listening to the hubbub Ezra frowned, "She can't be happy about that."

"Yeah, good thing her house is solid 'nough ta block mosta the noise, else her and the girls wouldn't get a bit a rest," Vin agreed.

"It's not just that," Ezra said. "There is trouble enough around a brothel without these types of businesses drawing more. Emma is accustomed to dealing with the troubles that plague a house such as hers, but she has no way or authority to deal with the types of trouble that this miniature tent city will inspire."

Vin frowned, "Yer right. Places like this, there's gonna be heaps of drunks shooting off their guns, gettn' inta fights…"

"Beatings, robberies, and killings," Ezra added.

"Ya got any ideas how ta help her out?"

"I might, but I require more information before I can create a viable plan." He paused then went on, "Whatever I am able to come up with may require a monetary investment. The money that I am holding is no longer solely mine. It technically belongs to the company that we are forming, therefore I feel that I cannot make a decision about its use alone."

"Even though we ain't rightly made that company yet?" Vin asked.

"I intend the money for that purpose therefore I feel that I should act as if the partnership and company already exist until and unless Judge Travis informs us that he will not file the paperwork for us, and we must find another way to achieve our goal."

"Seems ta me that ya said that ya'd hold forty percent of the company and I'd own thirty percent. Reckon that's more'n enough ta out vote Inez's thirty percent so if ya hold out the twelve-hundred that we need ta buy the saloon, which ya've already promised Inez and the thousand fer the poker game in Bitter Creek that leaves the fifteen-hundred that ain't actually been promised anywhere. I can hear yer plan and if I agree, then there really ain't no need fer 'Nez ta ever know ya had that extra money. Ain't like we expected ta win that much here."

"I would rather not start our relationship with her by lying to her," Ezra said ruefully.

"Then don't. Tell her that me'n you decided ta do it based on our seventy percent of the company," Vin said reasonably. "She might not particularly like it, but I reckon she'll understand that if we agreed on it, her thirty percent couldn't stop us doing it."

"I still feel badly that we cannot consult her first if we should decide to do something with the unspoken for part of the money."

"How about we talk about it some more after ya find out more about it all. Might not be anything ya can do. Ain't no need ta borrow trouble."

"You are correct, of course," Ezra said with a sigh, "One should never borrow trouble, the payback is hell."

"Come on then, let's go check the new street out. Find us a place ta sit where ya can draw it up and label anything with a name on it."

*******

By lunch time they had a pretty good idea of how the town was now laid out. Many of the lots on the new street had tents set up on them, some were clearly temporary while the new owners were building more permanent structures. Some, however, were clearly of a transient persuasion not intended to last long, just there to take advantage of the town booming because it was the new railhead. When the railhead moved on so would they.

Seeing Judge Havisham and Sheriff Porter heading into the Grey Goose for lunch, Ezra nudged Vin in that direction. He wanted to talk to the two men.

When he and Vin stepped into the restaurant, Ezra was delighted to see that the Mayor had joined the Judge and the Sheriff along with another man that he had not yet met.

They had stepped inside and were looking around, hunting a table when Havisham said something to Porter and the sheriff stood up and called out, "Over here, Standish," waving them towards the table.

As they walked towards the table, Havisham stood up as well and helped Porter drag another of the small tables over and push them together to make a larger one, grabbing some extra chairs as well.

When Vin and Ezra reached the table, Havisham pushed out a chair for Ezra next to him and indicated that Vin should take the one across the table. 

Ezra frowned at that as it put Vin directly beside Porter and Ezra was concerned that the sheriff might recognize Vin from his wanted poster, but he decided that making a fuss would just draw unwanted attention so let it go.

"Gentlemen," Havisham, said expansively, "allow me to introduce you to the gentleman who finally exposed O'Dowl and Neel for the cheats that they are. This is Ezra Standish, one of Orin's regulators over in Four Corners and his partner, the Seven's tracker, Vin." He leaned towards Ezra and added, "Ezra, I believe you already know Carl, our sheriff and Ben, our mayor. The other gentleman is the town's banker Zachariah Hammersmith."

Zachariah shook his head at his friend, "You can call me Zach, gentlemen, it's a pleasure to meet you. How did you manage to spot how they were cheating, Mister Standish?"

"A pleasure to meet you as well, sir. As for how I knew what they were doing, you may thank Vin for that. If you'll recall, judge, I excused myself when you first asked me to sit in. I then sent Vin into the room to watch those two. He has quite remarkable eyesight and quickly spotted what they were doing. He sent one of the girls to report to me, so that when I sat down at the table, I knew exactly what to look for. After that it was simply a matter of cheating better than they did."

"Orin said that you were one of the best he had ever seen and that he had never caught you cheating. I certainly never saw what you were doing last night," Havisham said, admiringly.

"You played quite well yourself, sir," Ezra assured him. "I'd rather like to see how well you do in an honest game."

"Well I wouldn't mind a chance to win some of that money you won last night so long as it is an honest game."

"My word of honor, sir, I will not cheat unless I catch you cheating first, of course, then it's self-defense," Ezra grinned easily.

Havisham laughed, "A smart man. You're on. Tonight at Miz Emmaline's then?"

"I shall be there," Ezra assured him.

"Good," Havisham said then, signaled to the waitress. "Annie, bring us steaks all around, on me." He grinned, addressing the entire table, "I believe that we deserve a bit of celebration after finally getting those two cheats in jail where they belong."

Once everyone had put in their orders for how they wanted their steaks, he said to the table at large, "Would you believe that those two had more than twenty thousand dollars in their room at the hotel. It's going to be impossible to find everyone that they have cheated to return that money to."

"I believe," Ezra said, "that Miz Emmaline said that they played at her place every night, if that is the only place that they gambled, perhaps she and her girls could make a list of the people that they saw lose money to them and the approximate amounts. You could then contact as many as possible and return what you can. I doubt that you will be able to return it all. What is left could be used to give Miz Emmaline and her girls a reward for helping you locate as many as possible. After that you could put what is left into the town building fund. That way it will benefit as many people as possible."

"That is actually a very good idea. At the rate the town is growing we may need to buy up more land, for the township," Zach said.

"Speaking of the town and building," Ezra said leadingly, "I was wondering about investment opportunities. Perhaps some property…" 

"There are any number of lots available. Some with buildings and some without. Where were you thinking of?"

"Well, I was considering, the land just beyond Miz Emmaline's. It was all vacant when last I visited. Now however It seems to be occupied."

"Squatters," Zach said in disgust. "Carl runs them off and they come right back or more just like them shows up."

"So, who owns the land?" Ezra asked.

"It's part of the township. Those of us who invested in the town when it was being developed own it in partnership."

"What are you asking for it?" Ezra asked.

"Three hundred per lot," the banker said.

Ezra laughed, "Really, sir, for unimproved land? I don't think so."

"They are business lots and business is booming," Zach returned.

"Only because this is currently the railhead. When the railroad reaches Bristol, your boom will move with it. Granted having the railroad go through here will keep business good but this level of business won't last, and you know it. I'll give you a hundred per lot if and only if I can buy all five of the lots between Emmaline's and the edge of the township." 

"What will you do about the squatters?" Zach asked.

"If I own the property, I am within my rights to evict them, am I not, Judge?" Ezra asked the Judge calmly.

"Absolutely," Andrew said.

"And if you issue an eviction notice then, the sheriff and his deputies are required to serve it, at gun point if necessary. Vin and I will, of course, accompany you and your men, Sheriff Porter, to lend a hand if needed. You could also deputize a few extra men if you feel the need, I would be willing to pay them."

"How will you keep them from coming back?" Porter asked. "My men can't watch the place alla the time for you."

"I will hire armed guards, at least one of which will be a sniper, concealed with an excellent rifle to hand. Any one that sets foot on the property will get one warning shot then one wounding shot. If they still persist then my sniper will have orders to take a kill shot. Signs to that effect will be posted on every side of the property. I'm sure that once a few trespassers have been dragged off the property with bullet holes in them, the rest will get the idea that trespassing on my property is detrimental to their health."

"Who will be in charge of the rifleman when you are not here. I don't assume that you will be moving here, if you are going to continue to work for Orin?" Andrew said his voice rising in question towards the end.

"We will be continuing our current employment for the time being, however, we are moving towards becoming businessmen rather than hired guns. We will most likely continue to live in Four Corners as it has come to feel like home to us, but we will gradually withdraw from the day to day work of peacekeeping, only performing select duties."

"What kind of duties?" Carl asked.

"As both myself and Vin are fond of traveling and visiting other communities, we will begin to volunteer for duties such as the one that brought us here, the delivery of paperwork or other communications between Travis and the other judges in the area."

He smiled, just a quick upturn of the corner of his mouth and added, "In fact that is an idea for a business that Vin and I could run, a courier service, to deliver important or time sensitive documents, not only for the judicial system but for business owners as well. Anything light and easily carried on horseback that someone might not wish to entrust to the vagaries of the stage line."

"What would be the advantages of using such a service?" Zach asked.

"Speed fer one thing," Vin said quietly. "Stage has ta follow the road. I know ever nook and cranny of the land round here. Me'n Ez, got good, fast horses and we can cut cross country. Ya take the stage road an' it's better'n two days from here ta Four Corners. Stage takes an overnight stay at Peter's Station. We lit outta town Thursday afternoon and were sitting up on the ridge outside a here by mid-morning Friday. Course we rode most of the night, but we can do that. Stage'll stop for the night even when they got a full moon like we had Thursday night." 

"Security as well," Ezra added. "Two men on horseback can evade bandits and other miscreants much more easily than the stage. With the stage if you wish to attack it, you simply follow the road until you come up on it. But two men on horseback, men that know the country, you would have to have a lot of luck to even be able to find them."

"Yep," Vin said, "an' I'm a tracker, know how ta hide a trail if need be. I'm a real good shot with a rifle too and I'm teachin' Ez ta snipe. Somebody gets on our trail and we can't shake'em, we can sure 'nough slow them down."

Seeing the uneasy looks that they were getting at Vin's mention of possibly shooting people, Ezra soothed, "I doubt that it would be necessary to kill anyone. A wounded man will slow a group down more than a dead one will. Even if they elect to leave the wounded man behind, he will require tending, cutting their numbers by at least two people."

"That is however a discussion for another time, as at this time it is only an idea, and we seem to have gotten off topic," Ezra said. "The topic being, will you or will you not sell me the five lots between Miz Emmaline's and the edge of town?"

"One-hundred-fifty dollars per lot," Zach said.

Ezra shook his head, "One-hundred-twenty-five. Take it or leave it."

The four townsmen exchanged looks then Zach sighed and held out his hand across the table, "One hundred-twenty-five dollars per lot it is, but the two of you have to go along with Carl to run the squatters off and you are responsible for keeping them off of it."

"Agreed," Ezra said, reaching across the table to shake Zach's hand. When can we pay and receive the deeds?"

"Ordinarily I don't do business on Saturday but seeing as how you did us a big favor exposing Neel and O'Dowl, I'm willing to make an exception for you. Give me a couple of hours to get the paperwork done then come around to the back of the bank and knock on the door. It opens directly into my office. I'll be there."

"Very well," Ezra said, "we will see you there. Now, if you will excuse us," he pushed back his chair and rose, "We have some other business to attend to."

*******

After leaving the Judge and his friends at the Grey Goose, Ezra and Vin began making the rounds of the saloons in town. 

First, they checked in with the ones that Ezra already communicated with regularly, talking with the bartenders, waitresses and the gamblers that were regulars at the saloons. When they finished that they headed for the newly built saloons and gambling houses.

Ezra had set his eye on a sturdy looking building that had a sign hanging out front declaring it to be "Conner's Wild Irish Rose Inn and Tavern".

Stepping in through the swinging doors, he looked around, admiring the long, elegant mahogany bar, the fine fixtures and noting the raised platform and the felt topped table there. Making his way to the bar he leaned against it, waiting for the bartender to notice them.

After a moment the man turned to eye him and said with a heavy Irish brogue, "Tis not serving we be. We be opening at sundown."

"That is fine, my good sir. I was wanting a word with the manager or owner," Ezra said.

"I be Conner O'Rourke. Tis the owner I am."

Ezra smiled but didn't say anything more for just a moment.

Conner started to move away, saying, "I be busy. There be much work ta be done 'ere I open tonight." 

"My apologies, I did not mean to waste your time. I was simply enjoying the sound of Ireland in your voice. 'Tas been quite a while since I've heard it sa clear. My grandmother was born an O'Malley in County Cork," he said, letting a bit of the old Irish accent that he had once worked so had to get rid of slip out.

"I have also been admiring your Tavern. You seem to be building for the long haul. The building appears sound and the fixtures are first class. I was wondering if I might ask you for some advice. My partner and I will be purchasing a rather nice saloon in Four Corners when we return home next week. While that building is also quite sound and the bar rather nice, not as nice as this one but more than serviceable, the atmosphere leaves quite a bit to be desired."

O'Rourke fixed him with a steady look, "I do nae know how I can help. I started planning this Tavern when I was just a wee lad, trailing after me Da to the local pub in old Donegal, dreaming on having me own tavern when I was growed."

"You could start by simply telling me about the tavern in Donegal. I've seen many an imitation of an Irish pub, but I've never been to Ireland nor seen the real thing."

O'Rourke hesitated, then shook his head, "I've much to do."

"Perhaps my friend and I could help you while we talk," Ezra suggested.

O'Rourke frowned, "Who are ye?"

"Oh, excuse me, I should have introduced myself at once. I am Ezra Standish, and this is my partner Vin. We are two of Judge Travis' Regulators in Four Corners."

"Yer lawmen and ye be wanting to start a saloon?"

Ezra smiled, "The town won't be needing seven lawmen forever. We are thinking ahead. That is why I chose your saloon to inquire at. You seem to be thinking ahead as well."

After a moment O'Rourke sighed and looked around. "I could be using some help. Me bartender and serving girls shall nae be here till just before opening time. Ye and yer friend help me get the whiskey and the glassware put out and I'll tell ye about the old Green Man Pub in Donegal while we work."

Two hours later, Vin and Ezra left The Wild Irish Rose, with a bottle of Conner's best Irish Whiskey and the knowledge that they had gained a new friend. It hadn't taken long for O'Rourke and Standish to become Conner and Ezra. Vin had hung back, working steadily but not saying much while Ezra charmed the Irishman. As they were leaving, Ezra and Conner had exchanged addresses and promises to keep each other updated as to how their businesses were coming along.

Ezra smiled as he looked at his watch. Perfect timing. They had gained a new friend, and by now Zach and Andrew should have the paperwork drawn up for their purchase of the land beside Miz Emmaline's.

"We should head for the bank," he told Vin, "the paperwork should be ready."

"Hmm," Vin made an agreeable sound, "Are ya really thinkin' of turnin' the saloon into a pub?"

"Not really. It was an easy opening to get him talking so that I could recruit him into my information network."

"Any particular reason why ya want him in particular in yer network?"

"He's Irish. There are quite a few Irishmen in these parts. They tend to be clannish and they frequent Irish themed bars and taverns. They work on the railroads, in the mines or construction and they are members of the army. They also tend to drink quite a lot and talk freely among themselves. Overtime he could become a veritable font of information. Of course anything that comes through a drunk Irishman would have to be confirmed elsewhere but still, it could give me an early heads up on a situation that might not be visible to my other sources of information."

"Different point of view," Vin stated firmly.

"Exactly," Ezra confirmed before knocking on the back door of the bank as he had been instructed to do.

Sheriff Porter opened the door and the two men could see that both Judge Havisham and Mayor Lakeland were also there along with the banker, Zach Hammersmith.

"Come on in, fellas," Porter said. "Zach finished up the paperwork a bit ago. I's thinking on heading out to round y'll up if ya didn't show soon."

"We were talking to a new friend and lost track of time. I apologize if we inconvenienced you," Ezra said, sitting the bottle of Irish Whiskey on the desk that Zach sat at.

Zach reached over and picked it up. "Fine Irish Whiskey. Where did you get this?"

"Conner's Wild Irish Rose Inn and Tavern," Ezra told him, sitting himself down in the nice chair that faced the desk.

"I thought he wasn't opening until tonight," Havisham mused.

"Well the door was open, and he was working inside so I stopped in to introduce myself," Ezra said with a shrug.

"And he just gifted you with a bottle of the good stuff?" Porter asked with a grin.

"We helped him with the stock for an hour or so, talked a bit, got acquainted. I do believe that he shall turn out to be a good friend. We saloon owners have to stick together, you know."

"Is that what you're planning to put on the property down by Emmaline's place?" Havisham asked.

"I haven't actually thought that far ahead as yet. It is a possibility, though," Ezra said. "I'll probably discuss it with Emmaline first."

"Why would you discuss it with Emmaline?" Porter asked.

"We will be neighbors, and as I will most likely be an absentee owner, I may ask her to keep an eye on whatever I decide to build there, keep me informed of any problems. In fact, if you have no objections, I should like to communicate with each of you as well. It would allow me to keep up with events here when I have to be in Four Corners."

"And you could keep us up on events in Four Corners," Havisham said with a grin.

Ezra scowled at him, "Why are you grinning?"

"You don't know? Orin carries that letter you wrote him about the, what was it? oh, yes, the "petite porcine plunderers" and reads it over again when he needs a good laugh. He read it to me once. I laughed so hard that I nearly fell off of my chair. He's always mentioning something that you said in one of your letters. He genuinely looks forwards to getting them. I would be delighted to be included in your correspondence."

Ezra didn't quite know what to say to that, so he fell back on the reason for their visit. "I see," he said, "however, I believe that we should get on with signing the paperwork then if Sheriff Porter doesn't mind perhaps, we could round up some of his deputies and see about evicting the squatters."

"I can go be rounding up my boys while y'all finish the paperwork. Be back in a bit," Porter said and departed out the back door.

By the time that the paperwork was signed, Porter had returned with over a dozen men, all carrying shotguns and wearing badges.

Seeing Ezra raise an eyebrow, he grinned, "Like ya said, even most men what's good with a gun ain't fool enough ta go against a shotgun. There's a heap of fellas down there on those lots but better'n a dozen shotguns should persuade them to move along right peaceable like."

"Indeed, however we will still stop at Miz Emmaline's and allow Vin to pick up his rifle and find a perch before we actually approach them."

*******

Fifteen minutes later Vin emerged from Miz Emmaline's with the assassin's rifle that he had confiscated during the mess with Governor Hopewell.

"Now, that," Porter said with admiration, "is some kinda rifle."

"We confiscated it from a professional assassin, that was attempting to kill statehood proponents a while back. It was decided that since Vin is the best marksman of our little group that he would have custody of it," Ezra explained.

Then turning to Vin he said, "The first shot should be a warning only. The signal to take that shot is my removing my hat. The second shot would be a non-lethal but painful wound, perhaps in the ball shoulder joint."

"Bullet direct into the ball joint of the shoulder is a crippling shot. Fella most likely won't never use the arm again," Vin warned.

"Use your judgement as to whether or not to place it there or to simply break an arm or something, but make sure that it is a painful wound that will take time to heal. I want these people to be very aware that we mean for them to get off our land and stay off it. I will put my hat back on as the signal for that shot. The third shot, if it should become necessary, will be a kill shot."

"What's the signal for that?" one of the deputies asked with a laugh.

Ezra turned on him and suddenly the man was standing on his tiptoes as Ezra shoved the barrel of his derringer up under his chin. "The signal for that," Ezra said with a chilling smile, "is my blowing someone's brains out. Comprende?"

Everyone, except Vin and Porter, had taken a step back when Ezra shoved the gun up under the other man's chin. Now, they stood wide-eyed as their companion swallowed hard and nodded, gulping, "Yeah, yeah. I understand."

"Good," Ezra stepped back and returned the derringer to its rig, brushed at his sleeve, straightened his jacket, then head held high, led the way towards the lots that he had bought.

Vin ghosted away to find his spot, while Porter fell in step with Ezra and the deputies followed, eyeing Ezra warily.

Porter grinned, "Reckon ya'll do," he said.

Ezra cut a glance at him then grinned back. It felt good to be able to let the wolf out for a walk now and then. Larabee was the Alpha of their little pack and Ezra would never challenge him but he was an Alpha, too. In fact about half the pack was alphas they just chose to allow Larabee to be the head alpha. It would never have worked if they were actually wolves but being human alphas, they could consciously choose to follow another alpha rather than form their own packs. 

He glanced back and saw that Vin had done as he had thought he would, he was halfway up the outside stairs to the third floor and would soon be in position on the roof of Miz Emmaline's. It was the best vantage point overlooking the lots and while Vin could easily make the shots required from much farther away, it would make the shots that much easier for him. Not to mention that he would be in position by the time that they garnered the attention of the squatters.

Ezra waited a few moments after they reached the lots, moving until he was standing approximately halfway down the row of lots. Then he stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud and sharp before shouting, **"Gentlemen! May I have your attention? These lots are now deeded land. I am the new owner. You will vacate the premises now!"**

"Or what?" A large rugged looking man surged towards Ezra.

Ezra reached up and took his hat off.

Instantly a rifle shot echoed and the man's hat went flying.

"Or my partner will put a bullet through your head," Ezra said calmly. "That was the only warning shot you will ever get. He is out there beyond your reach and he can put a bullet through a one inch circle from a quarter mile away. He will have no trouble dropping you in your tracks. Therefore, I seriously recommend that you pack your things and go. Sheriff Porter and his deputies will escort you to the edge of town. You have an hour. Anything you cannot pack in that time you will have to leave behind."

"Now wait a damn minute, this stuff is worth a lot of money!" Another man stepped forwards.

"Is it worth your life?" Ezra demanded.

The man shook his head but took an aggressive step forwards.

Ezra put his hat back on and instantly another shot rang out. The man that was advancing on Ezra jerked, screamed, then fell, clutching at his arm.

Ezra spread his hands and raised his voice again, **"My partner has his orders. Should he need to fire again, the next shot and every one after that will be a kill shot. It is a very simple decision, get off my land or die on it. One hour gentlemen. Start packing!"**

It is surprising how quickly people can throw stuff in a wagon or across the back of a horse when they are truly motivated to do so.

Porter's men had little to do but stand and watch as the squatters, quickly packed their goods and began leaving. Once the last of them were off the property, Porter's men followed them to the edge of town, telling them to keep going.

"You would be advised to post a watch tonight to ensure that none of them try to slip back into town," Ezra told Porter.

"What are you going to do?"

"I shall hire a couple of riflemen to guard the property tonight, while I sit in on the poker game with Andrew and Ben. Tomorrow, I will hire at least eight men to guard it until I decide what to do with it. Four with shotguns to guard it during the day, two men taking six hour shifts each, and four to guard it at night with rifles, again two men taking six hour shifts each. I doubt that the men with shotguns will need to shoot anyone. The riflemen, however, will be shooting from concealment and will have orders to fire one warning shot followed by wounding shots. They will have orders not to kill anyone unless given no choice. If you are willing, I would like it if they could report to you at the end of each day. I will leave money for you to pay them and you can either pay them day by day when they report to you or at the end of each week."

"How long are you thinking to need them?"

"As I have no idea how long it shall be before I will be able to return here, I will deposit six months wages with Mister Hammersmith at the bank making arrangements for you to be able to withdraw enough each day or week to pay the guards." 

"Sounds acceptable. Glad ya plan to put the money in the bank though. Zach will keep the records better'n I can."

*******

TBC


	7. Red Bluff Saturday Evening- Sunday Morning

________________________________________________________

After clearing the squatters off of their newly acquired land, Vin and Ezra returned to Miz Emmaline's to find that she was up and getting ready for the evening's business although it was still several hours until said business would begin to pick up.

She and Ezra retired to her office to update the map of the town, while Vin went to check on Peso and Chaucer, taking each out in turn to give them a bit of exercise. When Vin returned a couple of hours later he joined them in the office.

"Ya gonna tell her about the lots?" he asked, as soon as he was settled in one of the chairs at the table where Ezra and Emmaline were working on the map.

Ezra grinned and pulling the map close, marked the five lots between Emmaline's and the end of the town's claim, then wrote his and Vin's name across it before turning the map around so that Emmaline could read it.

"You bought the lots! What are you going to do with them? I thought you said that you wouldn't be coming over here as much as before? How will you attend to them without being here?"

Ezra shrugged, "I thought that you might have some ideas about what to put there, dear lady. I bought them on impulse, when I saw what a mess they were making right on your doorstep, so to speak. Think about what kind of business you would prefer to have on those lots, and we can discuss it further tomorrow. I was thinking perhaps a partnership, similar to what we have with Miss Rocillos concerning the saloon. We would own the land and I would put up the money, but you would have input as to what was built there. you would hire a manager or managers as needed for the various businesses. They would report to you and you would report to me in the weekly letter you send me. I thought perhaps forty percent to me and thirty to each you and Vin."

"How much did you pay for the lots?" Emmaline asked. 

"Five lots at one hundred twenty-five dollars per lot. Six hundred twenty-five dollars," Ezra said.

"Those men! They wanted three hundred per lot from me!" Emmaline said angrily, "then they sell them to you for less than half that!"

Ezra shrugged, then said, "Perhaps you would like to buy them from me? I will sell you all five lots for nine hundred dollars. You get them for less than they originally wanted, and I make a small profit. Of course, keeping the squatters off the property becomes your problem."

"Nine hundred dollars?"

"Yes," Ezra said.

Emmaline sighed, "I can't come up with that in cash."

"How much can you pay in cash, today, right now?"

She thought a long moment. "I'll need to have enough money on hand to at least put up a fence around the property and hire someone to watch it to keep the squatters off," she mused, finally saying, "seven hundred and fifty, right now."

Ezra looked to Vin who gave a slight bob of his head. They really had no use for the land and a hundred and twenty-five dollars profit was a hundred and twenty-five dollars profit. They had, in fact, only bought it to get the squatters away from Emmaline's house.

Ezra smiled at her, "Done. I have the deeds right here. If you can find a couple of witnesses to the signing, we can conclude the transaction whenever you choose."

"Judge Havisham has reserved a poker room for tonight. He and the Mayor will be here around nine o'clock with a couple of the wealthier townsmen. I'm sure he would be willing to witness the transfer of title."

Ezra chuckled, "He and the mayor witnessed the transfer of title to me. Will they be upset that I have sold the lots to you? If so, I'm sure that we can find someone else to act as witness."

"I don't care if they're upset," Emmaline said firmly. "I want to rub it in their noses that I got those lots and got them at my price!"

"Remember, my dear, that you have to live in this town. Angering the town's founding fathers is not perhaps wise, especially given that those men include a Federal Judge, the town's mayor, the head of the largest bank in town and the local sheriff."

She sighed, "I know. Perhaps it would be best not to disclose exactly what I paid for the lots."

Ezra nodded, "We can fill the bill of sale out as seven-hundred-fifty dollars cash and other considerations, leaving it to their imaginations what those 'other considerations' are. They need never know that there are no other considerations."

"Are you sure that you don't want any 'other considerations'? You aren't making much of a profit from the sale," Emmaline asked.

Ezra smiled at her, "Considering that I have only owned the property for a few hours, I feel that a hundred-twenty-five dollar profit in under a day is quite a good return on my money. Add in what I won at the table last night and this has already been a most profitable weekend. I can afford to be generous to a friend and we are friends, are we not, Emmaline?"

She smiled back at him. "Yes, Ezra we are friends." She reached across the table to take his hand, "I've missed you these last few months and now you tell us that you will not be coming back even as often as before."

"It can't be helped, my dear, we are going to be very busy. However, I promise when we get where we can, we will be making regular visits. We may not be availing ourselves of your ladies favors but we still consider you all to be friends and we shall want to check in with you and see how things are going for you."

She released his hand and said softly, "The world goes as it wills and not as you are I would have it." She shook her head ruefully, "My grandmother used to say that whenever I became upset about something that happened. It took a long time for me to understand that it simply meant that we cannot control everything. What will be, will be. We will see you when you can come to see us." She smiled at him, "Meanwhile, I can promise you that I will not forget that you helped me get those lots at a price I can afford. In fact why don't we forget about you paying me for the weekly reports? I will send you the reports as agreed but you only pay me if you use the information to turn a profit."

"Are you sure, my dear? Over time that five dollars a week can become quite a bit of money," Ezra reminded her.

"I'm sure. It may take some time to get something built on the lots and running but once I have, I'll turn a great deal more than five dollars a week profit. The two private poker rooms that I rent out here bring in more than five dollars per night. I believe that a casino would do quite well. If I add rooms for private games of poker, billiards and darts, and host the occasional tournament, it would easily make up for the five dollars a week that you would have been paying me," Emmaline said, thoughtfully.

Ezra nodded in acquiesce, "If you are certain, then I am certainly not going to argue with you. It will take me no more than half an hour to draw up a bill of sale for the lots. We can sign everything tonight before I join the Judge and his friends at the poker table. Perhaps you should send a message to them that you need to see them for a few minutes before the game," Ezra suggested.

"I'll send one of the boys to inform them," Emmaline said.

"Excellent, now I want to see if I can build up some cash before tonight. Is there anyone in the gambling rooms yet?"

"Not this early. However, you can usually find a game down at the Yellow Horse Saloon at anytime of the day or night. I don't think that you'll have any trouble with the regulars there, most are small ranchers and businessmen, that have learned better than to bet what they can't afford to lose."

Ezra nodded, "I've played there before. The higher stakes games won't get started until sundown. I'll grab a nap then pick up a couple of games before I have to be back here between eight-thirty and nine for the game with Judge Havisham and Mayor Lakeland."

He picked up his map and the ledger that he had been using to make notes in concerning the new people and businesses in town and after excusing himself, he and Vin headed up to their room.

*******

It was good that Ezra had played at the Yellow Horse before, after greeting the owner and bartender as old friends and joining a table with at least two other townsmen that he had played before, he easily won the first three hands. 

"Dammit Standish, you have the devil's own luck!" exclaimed Todd Ramose. "You could let us win a few hands to start with just to lull us into a false sense of security." He was grinning, so that Ezra didn't take offense. He knew well just how good Ezra was at poker.

Ezra grinned back at him, "Now, Todd," he chided, "I'm letting you deal. Would you like me to take my jacket and shirt off so that you can see that I have nothing up my sleeves?" He was smiling as well, his voice light and teasing.

Kate Blanchard, the owner of the Yellow Horse and the only woman at the table, grinned at him, "Hell, yeah, Handsome, you can take them off, take it all off! Pants too. I hear you played old Bangs in nothing but your fancy drawers!"

Raucous laughter greeted Kate's challenge.

Ezra winked at her and pushed his chair back, "Far be it from me to disappoint a lady," he said, sliding his jacket off his shoulders and calling Vin to his side with a look.

He removed his shoulder holster and sleeve gun as well before taking off his vest and shirt to cat calls and wolf whistles. 

Vin just shook his head, grinning, as he accepted the garments and weapons, turning to lay them on the chair that he had occupied, before stepping up behind Ezra to stand guard.

Ezra hooked his hands in the waistband of his pants then shook his head with a grin, "You'll have to be satisfied with the top half, darling," he told Kate. Sitting back down in his chair he said, "We have a new rule gentlemen, hands above the table at all times. Anyone caught with a hand below the top of the table is barred from the game and forfeits any money that they have in the pot at the time."

"Hey! What if I get an itch?" one of the cowboys that was new to the table asked.

"Then you had best either ignore it or put down your cards, step away from the table, scratch your itch then return to the table, being careful not to put your hands below the top of the table at any time. Oh, and Mister Tanner will be watching you to insure that you do not palm a card while you are scratching your itch."

"That's a bit tough isn't it?" another cowboy asked.

"Be glad I am not invoking tournament rules. Under tournament rules if you put a hand below the table top you forfeit not only the money in the pot, but your entire table stake. Also you are not allowed to leave the table for any reason, unless everyone is taking a break between hands," Ezra informed him coldly.

"If you do leave the table in the middle of a hand," Kate added, "you are barred from returning to the game and lose your entire table stake." 

Vin held Ezra's pocket watch out to him. "Better keep this, Ez. We got an appointment, remember."

Ezra nodded and took his pocket watch from Vin, opened it, and laid it on the table beside where he was sitting before saying, "If you would like to see an example of tournament play, I shall be playing down at Emmaline's this evening with Judge Havisham, Mayor Lakeland and Mister Hammersmith, the bank manager at the Red Bluff Central Bank as well as a couple of other gentlemen. Miz Emmaline will be acting as the dealer and tournament rules will apply." 

He glanced at his watch, "Now, I only have another hour and a half to play with you gentlemen, before I have to get ready for the tournament. So, if anyone would rather not continue play, please depart so that the rest of us can get on with the game."

Only one of the cowboys left the game and a bystander quickly claimed his seat.

At eight-fifteen Ezra tossed in his last hand and stood, raking his winnings off the table and into his hat. "I have to be going, gentlemen. It's been a good game. Thank you."

He turned to Vin and accepted the shirt his friend held out to him, quickly putting it on, followed by his vest. He then collected his guns, restoring them to their proper places before putting on his jacket. When he was once again properly attired, he tucked his pocket watch back in place, then quickly sorted his winnings and tucked them away.

Turning to Vin he said, "We should have time to grab a bite off Miz Emmaline's buffet before the big game. Shall we go?"

Kate and Todd Ramose stood up as well, "Why don't we walk down to Emma's with you," Kate suggested, "It's been a while since I've been down to visit her."

"And I want to watch you take Hammersmith to the cleaners," Todd said with a grin. "He turned me down for a loan a couple of weeks ago. Acted like I wasn't good for the money. Heck, I was livin' in this country long before there ever was a town here. Ain't like I'm gonna go anywhere."

"What did he want for collateral?" Ezra asked. 

"My ranch, the whole thing for a three-hundred dollar loan. My ranch is worth a whole lot more'n that! I got more'n six thousand acres and three thousand head of cattle. I only needed the loan to tide me over till roundup. Once I sell my herd next fall I'd pay it back."

"I see," Ezra said, "however, Hammersmith is most likely simply following the rules the bank owners have set down. As manager he does have a certain amount of flexibility, but he still has to answer to the owners for whatever decisions he makes."

"I know. Just don't seem right. You know, the land this town sits on used ta be mine. I'm the one that sold it to them to build the township twenty years ago and now he won't even lend me a measly three hundred dollars."

"I was not aware that Hammersmith had been here that long," Ezra said, thinking that Hammersmith didn't seem to be a great deal older than himself.

"Was his daddy and Judge Havisham that got things started back then. Havisham was just a lawyer in those days, him and Zach's daddy, Bart, was partners in a law firm, Hammersmith and Havisham. Zach used ta call the Judge 'Uncle Andy' when he was growing up. Now the two of them, along with Lakeland and Porter pretty much run things around here."

"I'm beginning to see that," Ezra said. "Do you have concerns about their honesty?"

"No, not really. I just think that they kinda forget where they come from and who their friends were. Judge has got a good head on his shoulders, smart and shrewd if ya understand the difference."

"I do."

"Porter's solid, too, even if he is a relative newcomer, only been here a few years. Worked for the judge in his office before he ran for sheriff. Zach and Ben, they grew up here, and they didn't have to work as hard for what they got as Andy and Carl did. Their daddy's was the one that built the family fortune so ta speak."

Ezra nodded, "So they do not, perhaps, appreciate that they might not have as much as they do without the help of others. They have, as you put it, forgotten who helped them reach their current station in life." 

"Yeah," Todd said with a sigh. "Reckon I shouldn't expect the sons to remember that their daddy's owe their start ta my selling them this land." 

Ezra nodded thoughtfully.

By this time they had reached Emmaline's. Vin and Ezra headed upstairs to their room while Kate and Todd stopped to talk to Emmaline.

Once behind closed doors, Ezra turned to Vin, "Would you be adverse to my loaning Todd the three hundred dollars he spoke of should he still need it?"

"We've got it to spare haven't we?"

"Yes, I won one-hundred-thirty dollars at the Yellow Horse. When Miz Emmaline pays us the seven-hundred-fifty dollars cash for the lots, our total cash in hand will be four-thousand dollars. I will need a thousand for table stakes for tonight's game, reducing our cash to three thousand."

"Subtract the twelve hundred we need to pay for the saloon and the thousand for the Bitter Creek tourney and that leaves, what? Eight hundred?"

"Yes. So even if I loan him the three-hundred we are still five hundred to the good plus whatever I win tonight."

"So even if you don't win tonight, and we loan him the three hundred, we'll still have what we need for the saloon and the tourney and five-hundred extra?"

"Yes. We are already way ahead of what we had hoped to win this weekend and we still have three weekends before the tournament to build up a cash reserve."

"I like Todd. He's a good man. Offer him the three hundred if ya want to. How much interest are you planning to charge him?"

"A flat ten percent. He borrows three-hundred dollars and pays back three-hundred-thirty dollars."

"Due when?" Vin asked.

"When he sells his herd next fall."

"Reasonable interest, reasonable terms. Can ya write it up yourself or do ya need the judge ta do it?"

"I can write it up. It will only take a few minutes."

"What about the bill of sale for the lots to Emma?"

"I drew them up before we left to go to the Yellow Horse."

Ten minutes later, Ezra was blotting the ink on the promissory note that he had written for Todd to sign when Emmaline's man knocked on the door to tell them that the judge and his friends had arrived.

After making sure that the ink was dry and would not smudge, Ezra slipped the note into the leather folder that he had the other papers in, and they headed down to Emmaline's office.

Judge Havisham was seated in the prime chair directly in front of Emmaline's desk while his friends occupied the other chairs in the room.

Emmaline started to send her man after more chairs, but Ezra declined, saying, "This will only take a few minutes. Vin prefers to stand, and I will be handing the papers around to the various signees. Besides, I will be sitting for several hours very shortly."

He drew out the deeds to the lots and the bill of sale for them that he had drawn up. "Has Miz Emmaline told you why we have asked for this meeting?" he asked the Judge.

"She says that you are selling her the lots that you just bought," Havisham said with a slight question in his voice.

"I am," Ezra told him.

"But you only bought them this afternoon," Hammersmith protested.

Ezra sighed, "I know, but on reflection, I honestly don't know why I did so. Once we leave tomorrow, Vin and I are not going to be able to return here for some months. I don't have any idea what I would put on the lots if I kept them and having to hire guards to keep the squatters off them until we could return and build something on them would be an unnecessary drain on our finances. So when Miz Emmaline informed me that she was interested in the property and would be willing to pay me more than I paid for them, well, I decided to sell to her. Is that a problem?"

Hammersmith started to say something, but Havisham shook his head and Hammersmith fell silent.

Havisham said, "It's your property. You can do whatever you wish to with it. Does Miz Emmaline know that she will be responsible for keeping the squatters off it?"

"Of course I do," Emmaline told him. "Vin and Ezra have been quite helpful with suggestions for dealing with the squatters should they attempt to return."

"Alright then, if you have the papers ready, we can sign them now," Havisham said.

Once the bill of sale had been signed, witnessed and notarized, Havisham and his friends rose to head down to the buffet table set up in the room next to the poker room, while Vin and Ezra stayed to speak with Miz Emmaline a moment.

"Emma, darling, could you have your man find Todd Ramose and ask him to step in here for a moment?" Ezra asked. "He is most likely at the buffet."

"Certainly. May I ask why?"

"I'd simply like to speak with him for a moment," Ezra told her.

When Todd was escorted into the room several moments later, he looked confused, "Michael said you wanted to speak to me, Emmaline?"

"Actually I wanted to speak to you," Ezra said. "I was wondering if you still had need for the three-hundred dollars you attempted to borrow from Hammersmith's bank a few weeks ago?"

"I could use it. I'm squeaking by but that money would certainly make life easier," Todd said.

Ezra looked at Vin and cocked an eyebrow, then discretely held five fingers where only Vin could see them. 

Vin cocked his head then shrugged and nodded.

Ezra turned back to Todd, "I am prepared to loan you three-hundred dollars at a flat ten percent interest repayable when you sell your herd next fall."

"Why would you do that?"

"I like you and I have the money to spare. We have done much better this weekend than we had dared to hope." He paused and then went on, "In fact if it would be better for you, I could loan you as much as five hundred. The same deal, flat ten percent interest, no payments but the entire loan due in the fall when you sell your herd."

"Ez?" Vin put in.

"Yes?"

"Maybe we should take it in trade…"

"For what?"

"We're buying the saloon. Inez already serves breakfast and lunch if we added supper too, then we'd be needing a good bit of beef for the table. He could save one of his bull calves from the spring birthings for us and a half a dozen young heifers. We could buy just enough land to support a small herd. We'd have meat for the saloon table regular like without having ta go hunting all the time. Cause seems to me that with all we've got planned, I might not have the time to do a whole heap of hunting."

"It'd have ta be a prize bull to be worth five-hundred dollars even with the heifers thrown in," Todd said with a frown. 

"Two bulls and twelve heifers, would that be worth five-hundred-fifty dollars?" Ezra asked.

"Five-fifty?"

"Five hundred dollars plus ten percent interest is five-hundred-fifty dollars."

"If I raise them to selling size, yeah they'd be worth that," Todd said.

"Then it's agreed. We shall loan you five-hundred-dollars at ten percent interest with the understanding that you may repay the debt with two bulls and twelve heifers delivered to us in Four Corners when you do fall roundup. Is that acceptable?"

"Acceptable," Todd agreed.

"Alright then, I just need to fill in the amount of the loan, the agreed upon repayment and we can sign the note. Miz Emmaline can witness it and if you would call Judge Havisham back for just a moment he can notarize it."

When the paperwork had all been taken care of, Vin and Ezra, grabbed a couple of plates from the buffet and retreated to their room.

Once in the room Ezra counted the money again while Vin ate, dividing it up: Twenty-two-hundred to take home to Inez, One-thousand for the game he was about to enter with Havisham and his friends and then the three hundred that was left over. He gave all but the thousand for the game to Vin.

Vin stared at the twenty-five hundred dollars then gave a sharp nod and tucked it away inside the interior pocket on his capote. "You need to eat, Ez, before you head down to the game. Ain't no tellin' how long it'll last."

"I'll eat a little. You know I don't eat much before a game. I dislike feeling overly full when I am playing."

"Don't need ta drink on an empty stomach," Vin said.

"Darling, Emmaline's girls know to bring me a glass with colored water rather than whiskey. It looks the same, but I won't be getting drunk. It's one of the tricks of the trade," Ezra informed him with a smile.

"You drink real whiskey when yer playin' us," Vin stated with a frown.

Ezra laughed, "Of course I do, darling. We never play for serious money and besides as much as I love you, I could hold my own at poker with any of the seven even if I were blind drunk and half dead. There isn't one of you that is a serious challenge at the game." He went to Vin slipping his arms around him and smiling up at him, "But tonight, I am playing for serious money and we are playing by tournament rules. I do not want to lose our thousand dollars which means that I need to win all the other players money. I can't do that if I'm drunk."

"Havisham brung five fellas with him. That means that if you win you could get five thousand dollars, don't it?"

"I doubt that Sheriff Porter is playing. Unless someone loaned him the ante, he most likely does not have it. No, I believe that it will be Havisham, Hammersmith, Lakeland and whomever the other gentleman is. I suspect that he may be a ringer, perhaps the local poker champion."

"You worried about him?"

"Not really. If he were truly good, I would have heard of him. All the really good players know each other, Vin."

"Railroad's here now. He could be from back east."

"It doesn't matter. I have this to do and do it I shall. You have to remember, Vin that I have an advantage over almost every player out there. Mother started teaching me to play when I was five-years old. I was playing against grown men by the time I was ten and winning regularly. I have played poker almost every single day since I was five and when I can't play, I shuffle and deal practice hands. I play memory games to improve my memory and therefore my game. I work at being good at cards. When I am truly focused on the game, no one can beat me. No one, understand?"

"Understood, still," he leaned in and kissed Ezra gently, "a kiss for luck can't hurt."

"Indeed, my love, now let's go win money," Ezra said with a smile.

****************

Judge Havisham introduced the new player as William Parker, a gambler out of New Orleans.

Parker held out his hand to shake Ezra's hand, "You may call me William. My family owns the Parker House Casino in New Orleans, perhaps you have heard of it?"

"Indeed I have. A very fine gambling establishment. My name is Ezra," Ezra replied foregoing mentioning his last name.

Havisham winked at him and Ezra sighed internally. It seemed Havisham was setting him up again. Hopefully this one wouldn't try to cheat.

"I believe that Judge Havisham stated that this game would be played by tournament rules. Just to make sure that everyone knows those rules shall I reiterate them?"

"Go ahead," Havisham said.

"Very well. The table stakes are one-thousand-dollars per player. The money must be placed on the table at the beginning of the game. Play continues until one player wins all the money. If you lose your stake you cannot bring additional money to the table. You are simply out of the game. Miz Emmaline will deal for us. No player will handle the deck at any time. All players must keep both hands above the tabletop at all times. No one may leave the table for any reason except when the entire table takes a break. If you do so, you are out of the game permanently and you forfeit your table stake. You may however ask for a break if you need to and if everyone agrees a break will be taken. Any one that does not wish to play by these rules should step aside now. Is everyone in?"

When each of the other players agreed to the rules Ezra, turned to Vin and removed his jacket. "As I am a professional poker player, and the rest of you are not, I will forestall any worries that I may cheat by playing in my shirt sleeves, rolled up above my elbows. Vin will hold my jacket and derringer rig." 

He turned to Sassy who was standing nearby, "Sassy, darling if you would be so kind as to roll my sleeves up for me?"

"I'd love to, Ezra," Sassy said with a smile, batting her eyes at him.

Ezra smiled indulgently at her and kissed her cheek before sitting down. He glanced back at her, "Could I have a glass of whiskey, darling, my usual bottle."

"I'll get it," Sassy said.

"If everyone is ready, gentlemen," Emmaline said, "the game is five card stud. Nothing wild."

The game began in earnest. It quickly became obvious that the only serious competition that Ezra had at the table was Parker, just as he had thought.

By midnight everyone else was out of the game but the game dragged on, seesawing back and forth between Ezra and Parker until about an hour before dawn.

Finally Ezra said, "I have to be back home by noon Monday, therefore I need to leave by noon today, and I should like to get a few hours sleep before then. Perhaps we could bet everything on one last hand? Winner takes all." 

"Play the cards we get?" Parker asked.

"Good enough. Deal the hand face up, Emmaline," Ezra said, pushing all his money to the center of the table.

Parker did the same.

"Last hand," Emmaline announced, "Playing the cards as dealt, face up."

She dealt Parker the first card, "King of Hearts to Parker."

She dealt Ezra's card, "Jack of Spades to Standish."

"Four of hearts to Parker."

"Ace of Spades to Standish."

Vin felt his heart jump as Ezra straightened the ace in front of him. The ace of spades was Ezra's favorite card.

"Four of clubs to Parker. One pair."

"Queen of Spades to Standish."

Ezra lined the Queen up next to the Jack.

Emmaline dealt Parker's next card, "King of Diamonds, two pair."

She dealt Ezra's next card, "King of Spades. Ace high straight."

She dealt Parker's last card, "Four of Diamonds. Full house."

Parker grinned and sat back in his chair, a triumphant look on his face.

Emmaline hesitated before dealing Ezra's last card.

"The world goes as it wills, darling," Ezra reminded her. "Deal the card."

She dealt it to him then gasped, before smiling and stating, "Ten of spades. Royal Flush in Spades. Standish takes the pot."

"That's not possible!" Parker snarled.

"Are you accusing Ez of cheating, or Miz Emmaline?" Vin asked, stepping forwards. "Cause, she done the dealing and ever body can see that he ain't got nothing up his sleeves."

"No one has been cheating, William, and you know it," Havisham said sharply. "You knew you could lose when you sat down. I know you're good but that don't mean you can't be beaten. Looks like it was Standish's lucky night."

"Standish? You never told me his name was Standish."

"I didn't?" Havisham said, innocently. "I apologize, allow me to introduce you to Ezra Standish, Maude Standish's son."

"Mother and I have been barred from the Parker House Casino in New Orleans since I broke the bank there when I was fifteen," Ezra informed him with a smirk. "Now if you'll excuse me, I shall retire to my room to get some sleep." He looked over at Vin as he straightened the money and tucked it away, "We can head home after lunch, if that is agreeable?"

Vin shrugged, "Fine with me. You're the boss," he said, letting Parker think that he was just a hired hand.

"Sassy, would you care to see me to my room?" Ezra asked.

"Oh, I'd love to," she smiled at him, taking his arm.

He leaned in close and whispered, "When we get upstairs, take the back staircase and tell Kyle to saddle our horses."

She giggled and nodded her head, snuggling up to him as they left the room.

Vin headed for the front door. "Reckon I better grab a nap, too. Tell Ez I'll meet him at the Grey Goose fer lunch."

By the time that Ezra reached their room, Vin was coming up the back staircase, passing Sassy as she headed down to tell Kyle to saddle their horses. 

He stopped her, "I done told Kyle to saddle the horses, could you see if cook would pack us some food? Stuff we can eat in the saddle. We aim ta be half way home 'fore Parker knows we're gone."

"I'll make y'all some sandwiches. Annie's got bacon, ham and steak for breakfast. I'll get y'all some bacon and slice y'all off some ham and put it between bread then wrap it up for you. I'll send along some jam and biscuits for when y'all can stop ta eat, too."

"Peach preserves?" Vin asked hopefully.

"If we got it," Sassy promised.

"Thanks, Sassy, yer a right fine woman."

"You bet I am. Now go help your fella pack."

*******

It only took a few minutes to finish packing after Vin arrived. Ezra had almost been done before he got there. 

Ezra quickly took out the money he had just won and told Vin, "With this we now have eight-thousand-five-hundred dollars." He held out his hand, "Give me the rest of it."

Vin frowned but did so.

Ezra took the money, put it with the other and straightened it, then pulled a piece of brown wrapping paper from his saddlebags. Moving to Vin's bags he took out the new shirt he had bought Vin while they had been exploring the town. Wrapping the money in the shirt, folding it carefully so that there was no indication that the money was there, he then wrapped the shirt in the paper and tied it with some string that he had before tucking the shirt and all the money into Vin's saddlebag.

"There," he said, handing the bags to Vin. "It should be safe in your bags. You led Parker to believe that you were just a hired hand. Should he come after us and by some miracle actually catch up, he won't think to look in your bags."

"He better not come after us. I don't like that man. Apt ta shoot him on general principle," Vin practically growled.

"Let us hope that it does not come to that."

"And if it does?"

"Then we shall just have to make certain that no one can prove that you shot him," Ezra said. He stepped close to Vin, "I love you. Let's go home."

Vin sighed and rested his forehead against Ezra's for a moment then stepped back, "Let's go."

*******

Kyle had their horses saddled when they reached the livery attached to the bawdy house. As he led Peso and Chaucer out for them, Vin spotted a deer skin that had been tanned tacked up on the wall.

"That deer hide yers, Kyle?"

"Yes, sir. Why?"

"Wanna sell it?"

"What ya offering?"

"Ten dollars," Ezra said pulling out a ten-dollar gold piece from his pocket.

"Ain't worth that much," Kyle protested.

"Reckon it is to us," Vin told him, then looked at Ezra, "Ya thinking what I am, wrap the horses hooves?"

"Indeed. It will blur the tracks. Make it almost impossible to distinguish them from any other."

"Make 'em look older an' wore down," Vin agreed. "Ten dollars and ya find us some leather thongs to tie them on with."

"If yer sure that it's worth it to ya."

"It is, Kyle," Ezra assured the young man again.

After ascertaining that Kyle knew Parker by sight, Vin and Ezra sent him to keep an eye out for the man while they wrapped the horses hooves. When he returned and told them that Judge Havisham, Sheriff Porter, and Mayor Lakeland had herded Parker back towards the center of town, they led the horses out the back, picking their way carefully, walking the horses until the sun was up enough for them to see, then they mounted and picked up the pace.

They kept to bedrock as much as possible, circling wide around the town before making a beeline for a series of canyons and arroyos that would get them back to Four Corners but be easy to lose any one following them.

They rode until late afternoon then made a dry camp, well off the trail, tucked back in a small clearing hidden behind a dense stand of trees. They had eaten about half the sandwiches that Sassy had made for them while they traveled and decided to eat the biscuits and jam that she had also sent along. Vin was delighted that she had found him some peach preserves as well as the small jar of strawberry jam that she had sent for Ezra.

Vin strung lines, each with a couple of cans with a handful of rocks in them around the campsite, low enough not to be seen but high enough to trip someone and alert them then they both settled down for a quick nap. The moon had been full on Thursday night when they made the trip from Four Corners to Red Bluff. It was waning now but would still be a bit more than three quarters full when it rose tonight. Since the sky was clear, it should be bright enough that they would be able to move on in a few hours. 

They quietly walked the horses into Four Corners shortly after midnight, stabled them using only the light that Tiny left burning all night and then headed for the saloon. Making a game of it, they managed to reach the saloon and get inside without Buck or JD, who were on watch, seeing them.

When Ezra opened the door to his room, they slipped quietly inside, noting that Inez was sleeping in the big bed there.

Smiling, they carefully set the saddlebags on the floor and undressed. 

Ezra stood beside the bed and leaned close to her, "Inez—" he began only to have her pull her hand out from under the pillow and shove her gun in his face.

He chuckled, softly, "Darling, it's only Vin and me. You don't need that. Although I am glad that you have it."

"You're home!" she almost squealed, "I did not think that you would return until noon." 

She hastily tucked the gun back under the pillow and sat up. "Did you win? What happened? Why are you back early?"

"Everything is fine. Yes, we won. There was a sight problem, but it should not be anything to worry about." He brushed a kiss across her forehead. "But we can discuss that in the morning. We missed you, darling, so how about we hang our gun belts and guns on the bedposts, put that pistol of yours somewhere that we won't have to worry about it going off and you welcome us home properly," Ezra suggested.

"Oh, si, querido. I have missed you as well. Both of you," She whispered, pushing the covers down to reveal that her gown was rucked up around her waist and she had on no undergarments.

"God! 'Nez," Vin groaned. "Want you so bad, but we ain't slept since Saturday. Don't think I'll be any good for ya."

"Likewise, sweetheart. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Ezra said.

"It is enough that you are here," Inez said, "Come to bed. I have missed having you hold me."

"Did you lock the door?" Vin asked Ezra.

"I honestly can not remember. I'll check it and then come to bed," Ezra said moving to do so.

*******

Nathan led his horse into the livery after finishing the morning patrol out of town. He nodded when he saw that Peso and Chaucer were in their stalls. He headed to the jail to check in with Chris who was sitting on the porch there.

As he dropped into the chair, he asked, "So when did Vin and Ezra get in?"

Chris turned to look at him. "They're back?"

"Horses are at the livery."

"Were they there when you left for patrol?"

"Don't know. Tiny had my horse saddled and waiting when I come down. I didn't set foot inside till I got back just now."

"I've been here since sunup and I haven't seen them. Buck and JD didn't say anything about seeing them come in last night."

Nathan shrugged. "Don't reckon it matters when they got here, as long as they're ready for patrol after lunch. Heck, you know Vin, he can be a ghost when he wants to be."

Chris sighed, "Ezra can be, too, when he wants. He just likes drawing attention, most of the time." He paused then shook his head, "I should have known they were back. Inez hasn't opened up the saloon."

Nathan looked over to the saloon and stared at the closed doors. "That is unusual."

"Yep," Chris said.

*******

TBC


	8. Monday: Four Corners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vin and Ezra return to Four Corners and begin their spending spree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rather long chapter, coming in at somewhat over ten thousand words. I just couldn't find a good stopping place any sooner.

*******

Inez awoke slowly. The room was still dark, so she knew that it wasn't daylight yet. She smiled to herself, happy that her lovers had returned early from Red Bluff. Even though the fire in the potbelly stove had burned down during the night, she was snug and warm. Her lovers slept wrapped around her, Ezra spooned behind her, his arm laying across her so that his hand rested on Vin's side. Vin lay in front of her, snuggled close as well, facing her with his arm laying across her so that his hand rested on Ezra.

Her smile widened as she felt Vin's morning erection bump against her stomach. She moved her head just a bit and licked across one of his nipples.

He chuckled softly, letting her know that he was awake, then his hand moved from Ezra to slide down her back to her hip.

She sighed and raised her leg draping it over both of his, giving him room enough to slide his hand between her legs.

He immediately did so, spreading her open and slipping two fingers inside her as his thumb massaged her clit.

Her juices were already flowing, and she pushed down on his hand, moaning softly.

Behind her Ezra shifted. 

Vin spread her wider and began to work all his fingers into her as Ezra's cock bumped against her vagina from behind.

She moaned as Vin withdrew his fingers and Ezra thrust forward, entering her.

Vin continued to rub her clit as Ezra took her. He tugged her nightgown up to expose her breasts and began to suck one of her nipples.

She threw her head back, as Ezra lightly bit her neck, one of his hands coming around to cup the breast that Vin was not sucking on. He pinched the nipple and rolled it between his fingers, making her gasp and cry out.

She let herself go, wantonly rocking back and forth between them, delighting in having them both touching her, taking her, wanting her. She reached down blindly wrapping her hand around Vin's cock and tugging on it, whimpering with need.

Then suddenly she found herself being lifted, Vin's cock slipping out of her grasp.

Vin flipped onto his back as he and Ezra lifted her, Ezra moving with them to remain inside her as she was set astride Vin. Vin lifted her hips and Ezra reached between them to spread her slit so that her clit was bare then Vin set her down, ensuring that her clit rubbed against Vin's cock every time that Ezra thrust in her.

She shuddered as they worked her between her, driving her into a frenzy as they pushed her towards her climax. 

Vin pulled her down to cover her mouth with his as she howled, climaxing again and again until she collapsed atop of him, utterly limp.

She let them lay her to the side, Ezra slipping out of her. She watched through drowsy eyes as Ezra knelt between Vin's thighs and bent to take Vin's cock in his mouth. Ezra sucked and licked Vin's cock hungrily until he brought Vin to climax then crawled up his body to kiss him passionately.

They all rested for a few minutes, then Ezra moved off the bed, going to get a basin of water and a rag. He returned, cleaned them all then took the basin and dumped the water out the window into the alley below. 

She drowsed as he stirred up the fire in the stove, added some more logs then came back to the bed, straightening the covers before rejoining them.

She sighed happily as Vin drew her against him, spooning behind her and Ezra slipped in on the other side, kissing her softly before pulling the covers up over them all and settling down to sleep again. 

*******

The next time that she awoke, Vin and Ezra were both gone from the bed and the curtains had been opened to let the light in. She knew that it was still morning by the angle of the sunlight that fell across the room. She heard soft footsteps in the hallway then the door opened quietly, and Vin poked his head in.

"She's up," he said, to someone behind him then pushed the door the rest of the way open and held it for Ezra who followed him in with a bed tray loaded down with breakfast for the three of them.

Ezra crossed the room to her while Vin closed and locked the door behind them. "Good morning, Darling," he said quietly sitting the tray on the bedside table. "Do you feel like breakfast?"

"Si," she said with a soft laugh, sitting up in the bed as Vin came to stack pillows behind her to make her more comfortable. "I am mucho hungry. As yet, I have not had the morning sickness, and I am hungry all the time."

"Perhaps you will skip that unpleasant part of childbearing. Mother told me once that she did not have a single day of morning sickness when she was carrying me," Ezra said. He removed his and Vin's plates from the tray.

Vin took the plates and set them on the dresser, as Ezra poured them two cups of coffee, setting them aside before placing the tray with Inez's breakfast across her lap.

"I made tea for you. Trust me it isn't medicinal, not really. It's raspberry tea. Mother swears by it. She said that drinking raspberry tea every morning with her breakfast is what kept her from suffering morning sickness with me. Apparently, it is a secret passed down through the women of her family. As soon as Grandmother found out that Mother was carrying, she brought her the tea and insisted that she use it."

Inez smiled at him, "I hope that it will work. I do not want the morning sickness."

"We don't want ya to have ta suffer through that, either. That's why we decided to try an' head it off at the pass so ta speak and see if the tea would work for ya," Vin chimed in.

"I do hope that you like it, as you should drink it every morning and then when ever you begin to feel nauseated," Ezra said.

She lifted the cup and took a sip, "Oh, it is very good! I like it very much." 

"Good. Then we'll make sure that you have plenty of it on hand from now on," Ezra told her.

As she began to eat, he and Vin dug into their breakfast as well, Ezra pulling a chair close to the dresser and eating there, while Vin took his plate to the rocking chair by the window, setting his coffee on the floor beside him.

When they were finished eating, Ezra gathered up the dishes, returned them to the tray. After they each gave her a kiss, Vin unlocked the door, then picked up the tray and headed out. 

Ezra sat on the edge of the bed a few minutes longer, holding one of her hands.

"When you feel like getting dressed and coming downstairs, we will tell you all about our trip. Now, we'll leave you to your ablutions." He kissed her hand, then stood up. "We'll see you in a bit, Darling."

After he was gone she rose and began to get ready for the day, smiling to herself. It was so very nice to have lovers that took such good care of her yet did not object to her strong will and need for independence.

*******

When she arrived downstairs, Miguel, one of the boys that helped her in the kitchen, keeping the stove stroked and fetching and carrying was in the kitchen, along with Catherine, the young woman that she had hired to help her cook and to take over for her when she could no longer stand on her feet all day.

Miguel told her that Vin and Ezra were in the small store room at the back of the kitchen. The room had two doors, one opened from the kitchen and the other from the hall that ran to the back door from the saloon proper.

As she stepped into the room, she heard Ezra say, "It's perfect. We don't need a large office at this stage." He saw her and smiled, turning to ask her, "Do you think that this will make a good office for the saloon?"

"What will we do with everything that is stored here?"

"I can build more shelves in the cellar. We can put most of it down there," Vin said, then seeing her frown he added, "Me'n Miguel can fetch and carry. You won't have'ta worry about climbing up and down the stairs."

She nodded, and said, "Si. It will make a good office. I never had an office, I did the books at a table in the saloon and kept the ledger in my room."

"Yes, well I promised you a safe, my dear and we will need some place to keep it. I certainly don't want it sitting in plain sight in the saloon."

"I see. Yes. This will be good," Inez said.

"Excellent. Catherine has already started the beans and put the roast in the oven for lunch, why don't you go see what else she needs to do and get her started on it while Vin and I shift enough of this around to bring one of the tables in here. When you get back we'll show you what we won in Red Bluff and discuss what we wish to do."

*******

When Inez returned from getting Catherine and Miguel started on the rest of lunch, Vin and Ezra had already shifted about a third of the items in the storeroom to one side and had one of the tables from the saloon set up with three chairs around it. A pair of saddlebags sat in the center of the table.

After Inez closed and latched the door behind her, Vin rose to latch the other door then returned to the table and took a package wrapped in brown paper out of the saddlebags.

Ezra took the package from him then said, quietly, "We did much better in Red Bluff than we had dared to hope. We had hoped to win three or four-hundred dollars. This is what we ended up with." He removed several stacks of money from the package. "It totals, with the thousand that we started with, eight-thousand-five hundred dollars."

He laid one stack of money in front of her, "There is twelve hundred dollars here. With your six hundred and Vin's two hundred that makes the two thousand for the saloon."

He laid another stack of money in front of her, "This is the thousand that I need to enter the tournament in Bitter Creek." 

He separated off another stack of money and laid it with the saloon money, "That leaves us with sixty-three hundred dollars to decide what we are going to do with."

"Madre Dios! I can not believe. How? How did you win so much?"

"Travis' judge friend that we took the papers to, had his self a couple of cheats that were pretty much taking the town to the cleaners. He set Ez up ta play them and Ez showed 'em up fer the cheats they were. He kept the money he won off 'em while he's doin' it. Later on the judge, the mayor and some other fellows wanted ta play Ez tournament style, had themselves a fella that was supposed ta be real good at poker with them. Probably figured him to win. Ez beat him won all four of 'em's stake."

"You won all their money?" Inez asked wide-eyed.

"Tournament rules. Everyone plays until they lose their stake and one player has it all, Darling. They could all afford to lose it. I was playing against some of the wealthiest men in Red Bluff."

"Oh, I see, and now you do not need to keep going out of town to win more money," Inez said smiling.

Vin and Ezra exchanged looks, then Ezra said, "Inez, I should like to continue as we had planned. There is no reason for anyone outside the three of us to know that I have won this much money. Vin and I would like to continue with the plan in order to get the rest of the seven used to our not being around all the time. The town is not going to need all seven of us for much longer. We would like to move into being businessmen rather than lawmen and the more money I can win will, the easier that will be. In fact if I buy everything that I have in mind then most of this money will be gone."

"What could you possibly buy that would take that much money?" Inez asked.

Again, Vin and Ezra exchanged looks. Then Vin drew his saddlebags close again and pulled out Ezra's ledger handing it to him.

Ezra opened the ledger and removed a folded paper from the inside front cover and spread it out on the table turning it so that Inez could see it clearly.

It took her a moment to realize that it was a neat hand drawn map of Four Corners with each building labeled and with the owner's name beside it. Many of the buildings that she knew to be empty were marked 'title held by bank'.

Ezra pointed to the saloon, "This we have already agreed to buy." He pointed to the abandoned hotel across the alley behind the saloon. "I want to buy this and the empty building adjoining it. Since they share a wall it would be a simple matter to cut a door between the two buildings. We would make you a suite, bedroom, sitting room, nursery and bathing room on the ground floor of the old hotel, making certain that one wall of your bathing room is the shared wall. Mister Tanner and I would each have a suite in the other building, one wall of one of our suites will also be the shared wall. Mister Tanner could cut the door between them himself, so as only we would know that it is there. As far as the town is concerned we would live in two separate buildings keeping the illusion that we are simply business partners and very good friends."

She stared at the map a moment then frowned, saying, "Will they cost that much. They are abandoned, are they not?"

"You are correct. The hotel has no furniture or even a stove in the kitchen, so the judge should be able to talk Hamilton down to around four or five hundred, especially when the judge tells him what all his client wants to buy."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the map, Darling. There are only four occupied buildings between us and the north end of town. The hotel behind us is vacant as is the building next to it. The bank holds the mortgages on both. We should be able to get the empty house for around two hundred. The hotel will be more because it is three stories. Both have been abandoned for some time so we may be able to get them cheaply. The boarding house across from the hotel belongs to the Widow Broadhurst. She is looking for a buyer. She wants more than I'd really rather pay but she is planning to take only her personal belongings and a few pieces of furniture that have sentimental value with her. Everything else will stay including the stove and most of the dishes and serving pieces. Again she is taking only a few pieces that mean a lot to her. That means that the boarding house will be furnished, and we can start renting rooms immediately. We will have to hire help, of course, a manager, a cook and a couple of maids. We should probably hire a handyman as well, someone that can cut wood for the boarding house as well as the saloon to take that work off Mister Tanner's shoulders."

"When yer lookin' fer a handyman try an' find some body that can do repairs, too. Iffn we're buying ever thing that you want to, I ain't gonna have the time ta do repairs on it all," Vin put in.

"How much is the Widow wanting for her boardinghouse?" Inez asked.

"Three-thousand five-hundred. That is why I said that it was more than I want to pay but we do have the money," Ezra assured her. "Even if we pay her price, that leaves us twenty-eight-hundred dollars. Figure eight-hundred for the hotel and the house next to it to be on the safe side and that leaves us with two thousand dollars. There is a small empty building between Widow Broadhurst's boardinghouse and Digger Dave's. It is a small building and should not cost much. Figure two hundred dollars for that. I've spoken to old man Herndon that owns the cigar store, he asked about betting the store at the poker table a while back. He was asking to cover a five-hundred dollar bet with it, the land building and stock. At the time I wasn't interested, but now I'd be willing to pay that for it. That only leaves thirteen-hundred to get the empty building beside the cigar store and the hotel on the end of town. I doubt that the hotel will go for less than four-thousand as I will want all the fixtures and furnishings."

"We won't have enough to buy it all," Inez said quietly.

"Not unless I keep playing. I want to give Judge Travis fifty-eight-hundred dollars today and let him negotiate the prices for us. The bank and Widow Broadhurst are both more likely to sell to him and some anonymous investment company than to us personally. Hopefully by the time that they find out that we are the investment company we will already own everything that we want." 

"What time is it?" Vin broke in to ask.

Ezra pulled out his watch and opening it said, "A quarter to eleven."

Inez gave a gasp, "I need to open the saloon, if we are going to serve lunch. We will meet with Judge Travis after lunch. I will bring my money with me. Where should we meet?"

"We'll meet here," Ezra said. "We can bring in some more chairs and work at this table. We'll finish moving things out of here this afternoon and get some proper office furniture tomorrow."

"How many more chairs?" Vin asked as Inez headed for the kitchen. 

"Three, I think. Judge Travis, Mister Larabee and Missus Travis."

"Ya want Mary here?"

"We will need two witnesses besides the judge. He will need to notarize everything, and she already knows we are going into business together."

"You reckon that he's gonna be willing to represent us?"

"I can see no reason why he wouldn't. He is after all our employer at the moment and it is in his best interest to keep us here. I'm sure that he knows that even if we are no longer actually employed as peacekeepers that we will, of course, be available as needed."

"Wouldn't hurt to make sure he knows. Maybe flat out tell him?"

"I shall see to it," Ezra said. "Now, let's go get the chairs, then we can eat."

"Best do something with that money," Vin said.

Ezra nodded, picking up the money and returning it to Vin's saddlebags, before picking them up and handing them to Vin. 

Vin raised an eyebrow at him.

"They are your saddlebags. It would look a tad strange for me to be carrying them around."

Vin huffed a laugh. "Gonna look a mite strange for me to be hauling them ever where with me here in town."

"It'll only be until we can talk to Travis. An hour, two at most," Ezra assured him.

"I'm gonna need to go get my money, got it tucked away out at Chris' place."

"I will give you the two hundred to cover your part and you can give me the money later. That way you won't have to leave town right now. You can stop at Chris' when you go on patrol."

"That'll work," Vin agreed, draping the saddlebags over his shoulder as he headed to the front of the saloon to grab a couple of chairs.

Ezra trailed behind, grabbing one chair while Vin grabbed another. He arranged them around the table as Vin went back for the third chair.

When they returned to the front of the saloon, Inez had opened the doors and Chris was making his way to his regular table.

Vin dropped into the chair on one side of him and Ezra took the one on the other side. 

"Boys," Chris greeted them, "How did you do in Red Bluff?"

Vin grinned as Ezra chuckled and said, "We succeeded beyond our wildest hopes. We need to speak to the judge as soon as possible to find out if he has decided to represent our partnership and our company."

"I had dinner with him and Mary yesterday and we discussed it. He seemed to be inclined to represent you. He said that you were smart to hire him. I think he talked to Hamilton over at the bank and the man left a sour taste in his mouth. He was upset with the man's views on women, coloreds and others not considered upstanding citizens. Judge was pretty outspoken on the question of how were such people supposed to improve their lives if no one would give them a chance."

Ezra snorted, "Well, he did hire a motley crew of what most 'upstanding citizens' consider to be riff-raff to protect this town, his daughter-in-law and grandson."

Chris shook his head, "Reckon you're right about that. He hired a gunfighter, an ex-bounty hunter, a defrocked priest, an ex-slave, a greenhorn, a drifting womanizer and an itinerant gambler and con-artist to be lawmen." He chuckled quietly, "He pretty much had to believe in giving folks a chance to do that." 

Ezra nodded, "That was a rather large gamble."

"Looks like he won that gamble. We've done a good job here," Chris said quietly. "Judge said as much. Said he was proud of us for the way that we've done the job, all of us, but especially you, Ezra."

Ezra nearly strangled on his drink and Chris helpfully pounded him on the back until he got his throat cleared and could speak, "Travis said he was proud of me? Me? Specifically?" It was little more than an incredulous squeak.

"Yep, you. He especially thinks that you and Vin are doing a good thing trying to help and protect Inez in her situation. So, yeah, I think he'll be representing you."

"In that case," Ezra said, as Inez dropped three plates overloaded with beans, beef and Spanish style rice on the table before them, "when we finish lunch, perhaps you could fetch him and Mary so that we can complete the paperwork. We are turning the small storeroom behind the kitchen into an office for us. We should like to meet there."

"Come round the back," Vin suggested. "Ain't no need fer Mary to come through the saloon."

Chris nodded, "I'll get them over here soon as I can. It's alright if you two are a little late heading out on patrol.

Just then, Buck, JD, Nathan and Josiah came in and headed for the table they were sitting at.

"What time did you two get in?" Buck asked jovially.

"Round midnight," Vin told him with a grin.

"How come we didn't see you?" JD asked.

"We's tired JD, headed straight up ta bed. If we'd dropped in ta say hello ta ya two ya'd a jabbered at us half the night."

JD started to protest but Chris gave him a hard look, "You know that you and Buck would have just kept running your mouths and Ezra and Vin are both too polite to just walk away from you. They weren't expected back till noon, so no reason for anybody to be worried or for them to check-in." 

He turned to Ezra, "So, why were you back so early?"

"We had not planned to head back until noon yesterday, however my last game was played under tournament rules and one of the players was somewhat disgruntled at losing his entire stake."

"You shouldn't take all a man's money," Nathan grumbled.

"All the players knowed it was tournament rules, Nate," Vin snapped. "One of the rules is ya play till ya either win ever body else's stake or ya lose all yours. They all agreed ta the rules before they sat down. Had a professional dealer so none of the players touched the deck, just their own cards. Hell, Ez played in his shirt sleeves rolled up past his elbows. Fella just fancied his self ta be some kinda fine poker player when he wasn't."

"Also," Ezra added calmly, "the rules were carefully and fully explained before play began. Everyone declared that they understood the rules and agreed to abide by them. Additionally the gentleman in question considered himself to be a professional gambler, coming from a family that runs a casino in New Orleans."

"So, how much did you win?" JD asked excitedly.

"Enough," Ezra said offhandedly. "We have the two hundred dollars more that we needed to buy the saloon. I dare say that if things continue to go as well as they did in Red Bluff, we shall have the table stakes necessary to enter the Bitter Creek tournament in hand before the first of December." He pushed his half empty plate over to Vin with a sigh, "I do not understand why Miss Rocillos insists upon piling so much food on my plate. She knows very well that I do not eat that much."

Josiah chuckled, "Are you sure that she knows? You always hand your plate off to Vin, Buck or JD and they clean the plate so perhaps it hasn’t occurred to her that you are not eating it."

Ezra blinked, "I honestly hadn't thought about that. Mister Tanner started helping himself to whatever was left on my plate not long after we came together as a group and I just got into the habit of pushing my plate towards him when I was done. By the time that Miss Rocillos arrived in town it was an established habit." He shrugged, "I suppose it doesn’t matter. The food does get eaten."

Catherine brought out plates for the other four and talk turned to what was happening in town and how the morning patrols had gone as they ate.

Chris was the first to finish after Ezra and pushed back his chair. "I'll let the Judge know that you want to see him before you go on patrol."

Ezra pulled out his watch, "Lord, it's almost twelve. Hopefully we can get finished with everything before time for patrol."

"It's not going to hurt anything if you are a few minutes late, after all you will be in a meeting with me and the judge. It's not like you're just skiving off." 

"Think Ez is worried that the rest of the fellas might get upset if we're late, on account of ya letting us be gone over the weekend," Vin said.

Nathan frowned then said, "Like Chris said yer meeting with him and the judge. Ain't like y'all didn't get back when ya said ya would. Even if ya hadn't got back on time, we'd probably be more worried than angry. When the two of ya are off somewheres together yer usually back on time cause you ain't hardly ever late and you keep Ez on time."

Vin stood up, picking up his saddlebags from the floor beside his chair, saying to Chris, "Ya head on and get the judge. Me'n Ez will get everything we need for the meeting."

Ezra joined him and they headed up the stairs towards Ezra's room, letting the rest think that they were going to Ezra's room. When they reached the upstairs hall they headed for the door to the outside stairs and went down them and in the back door of the saloon into the kitchen and then into the store room beside the back door.

By the time that the judge and Mary followed Chris in the back door of the saloon and into the rearranged storage room, Inez had joined them and brought her money as well.

Ezra greeted the judge and Mary, "Thank you for coming so quickly. We need to leave for patrol at one o'clock and would hate to be late on the first week of our agreement."

"This shouldn't take too long," The judge assured them as he, Mary and Chris sat down in the three chairs opposite the three that Vin, Ezra and Inez occupied. "I have already told Chris, that I have decided to accept the position as attorney of record for both your partnership with Miss Rocillos and the investment company that you are forming."

"Thank ya, judge," Vin said. "Right glad ta hear that. We weren't sure what we'd do if ya hadn't decided to take us on."

Travis looked at the money in front of Vin and Inez then raised an eyebrow at the fact that Ezra only had a small lock-box sitting in front of him. "I will of course need a retainer to make this official…"

"Would fifty dollars be enough for the first month?" Ezra asked.

"That would be more than sufficient," Travis said.

"You are going to have quite a bit to do this first month," Ezra said. "You will need to file the paperwork on both the partnership and the investment company as well as negotiate the purchase of the saloon and several other properties."

Travis' eyebrow rose again, "Other properties?"

"Yes," Ezra said, "however let us deal with the partnership and the saloon first."

"I'll need a name for the partnership," Travis told them.

"Tanner, Rocillos and Standish, a limited partnership," Ezra said, "Plain and simple. To maintain our privacy you can refer to it by the initials, TRS." 

"Very well, once you sign the paperwork, Chris and Mary can witness it and I will affix the notary seal. When that is done I will need the money you wish to use to purchase the saloon."

After the paperwork was passed around and signed, Inez handed him her six-hundred dollars. Vin handed over his two hundred and Ezra opened up his lock-box and counted out his twelve-hundred dollars. Ezra also handed the judge a large envelope to put the paperwork in and another smaller one to put the money in.

Travis thanked him, put the paperwork in the large envelope and the money into the smaller envelope then tucked the smaller envelope into the larger one, before laying it aside.

He then took out the partnership agreement and they all signed it after he went over the provisions of it with them to make sure that everyone knew what they were agreeing to. "First have you decided on a name for the investment company. I will need one to file the paperwork."

"Mister Tanner has suggested that we are like trees as we are putting down roots and branching out. Miss Rocillos and I both liked the idea. Therefore we have decided to name the company Three Trees Investments."

"That's actually a very good name," Mary said. "It gives no hint of who you actually are and will allow you to keep your purchases private."

"Now, that we have a name for the investment firm, exactly what other properties are you interested in purchasing?"

Ezra had counted out five-thousand dollars while Chris and Mary had signed as witnesses and Travis had affixed his notary seal to the investment firm paperwork. He handed it over to Travis and said, "There is five-thousand dollars there. Widow Broadhurst is asking thirty-five hundred for her boarding house. I'm allowing an extra five-hundred because although she has said that she does not intend to take anything but her personal belongings back east with her, I would like you to be certain that she leaves everything necessary to run the boardinghouse. For instance the dishes and cookware that will be necessary to cook for the boarders and the linens for all the beds should remain. Should she want more money to include them in the sell you may spend up to the extra five-hundred. If she does actually intend to include everything necessary to run the boardinghouse in the thirty-five-hundred then the extra five-hundred can go towards buying the other properties that we want."

Travis stared at the money, then asked, "Just how much money did you win in Red Bluff."

"I can back from Red Bluff with eighty-five-hundred dollars including the thousand that I started with."

"How on earth?" Mary gasped.

"Indeed," Travis said.

Ezra smirked at him, "Your friend Judge Havisham and Sheriff Porter set me up to play against a pair of cheats that the two of them had been unable to prove were cheating. I proved that they were cheating. I had a thousand dollars that I took with me. Then I came out thirty-seven-hundred forty-five dollars ahead in that game. The next night your friend and several of the wealthier citizens of Red Bluff asked me to sit in on a game with them, tournament rules. The table stakes were one thousand dollars each and there were four other players. When I won that I came out four thousand to the good. I bought and then resold several lots of land for a profit of one-hundred-twenty-five dollars and won one-hundred thirty dollars in some smaller games on Saturday."

Chris was figuring in his head as Ezra talked, "That's nine thousand dollars. What happened to the other five hundred?"

"We decided ta loan a friend of ours the five hundred," Vin told him. "We're gonna get two bulls and twelve heifers come fall roundup next year." 

"You'll need land for a herd," Chris said.

"We have every intention of buying a small ranch to put them on. It's not as if we intend to build up a huge herd. It was Mister Tanner's suggestion that we take them in lieu of a cash repayment of the loan. He said that we could use a small herd to furnish meat for the saloon and the boardinghouse."

"And if you don't get the money to buy land for them?" Travis asked.

"We have almost a year," Ezra said with a shrug. "If we can't get enough money in that length of time, I'll just let Mister Tanner persuade Missus Wells to let us put them to pasture on her place. She no doubt could use the money we would be willing to pay to keep them there." 

"That could work," Chris said, "she has the room for at least twice that many head of cattle."

"Yep," Vin said, "kinda doubt that we'll need ta bother her with them though."

"Now," Ezra said, looking at his watch, "about the other properties I am interested in." He withdrew another stack of money from his box. "Here is eleven-hundred dollars. I want you to purchase the abandoned hotel and house behind the saloon. Neither should cost too much. Get the best price that you can. Then with whatever money that you have left after buying the boarding house and the two buildings behind the saloon, negotiate with Mister Herndon to buy the Cigar store. He has said that he is selling the store lock, stock and barrel. Please make certain that the inventory is included in the sell."

He paused then said, "I have several other properties in mind however these are the ones that I want bought first and in the order that I have listed them."

"I see," Travis said. "First I buy the saloon, second the boardinghouse, third the two buildings behind the saloon, then finally the cigar store if there is enough money left."

"Exactly," Ezra said, "and in that order. I also want the empty storefront beside the boardinghouse and the empty building next to the cigar stone. I want the hotel at the end of the street as well, however, I know that I don't have enough money to get all of them at this time. The bank holds the mortgages on both the buildings behind the saloon, the empty store next to the boardinghouse and the one next to the cigar store."

"If I can get the saloon for less than the two-thousand dollars what do you want me to do with that money?" Travis asked.

Ezra thought a moment then turned to Inez and Vin asking, "Do either of you need money to get by on until we begin to turn a profit?"

Inez shook her head, "The owners pay me thirty-five dollars a month to manage the saloon. I still have most of last month's pay. I will not get paid this month will I?"

"Not a salary but hopefully we will turn a profit. If not I will just have to pay you the manager's salary out of my operating reserve," Ezra told her.

Vin gave him a nod, "We got paid just before we headed out ta Red Bluff. Still got most of it."

"Then if it is agreeable with the two of you I will have Mister Travis add whatever he is able to save us on the purchase of the saloon to the money that I have given him to buy the other properties."

"Fine with me," Vin said.

"Si," Inez agreed.

"Then that is what we will do," he said. He looked back down into his box and said, "And that ladies and gentlemen leaves me a mere two hundred dollars for operating expenses. Fortunately, Like Mister Tanner I do still have my pay for last month. It should be more than enough to scrape by until we go to Ridge City next weekend."

"Why do ya want the buildings bought in that order, Ez?" Vin asked.

"The saloon already turns a steady profit. If we can keep the boardinghouse open as well it should also turn a profit. We can use the profits to pay for the help we will have to hire. With my help, Inez can still manage the saloon and the boardinghouse as well, but we will need to hire another helper for the kitchen and a maid for the rooms upstairs here. The boardinghouse will need a cook, a cooks helper and at least two maids. It is unfortunate that Widow Broadhurst and her daughters did almost all the work of running the boardinghouse themselves. If she had employed others to help her run it, we could have simply asked them to stay."

He fell silent for a moment then said, "As for the hotel and the other house behind the saloon, Inez is going to need a ground floor room when she reaches the point that she should not be climbing stairs and I should like you and I to be close by should she need us. As for the cigar store if we do not have enough money for it, it can wait. It doesn't do a lot of business, so I when I am able to buy it, I am thinking of simply using it as a warehouse and offering the cigars for sale here at the saloon."

Inez smiled, "That is a good idea. Many men like to smoke when drinking or playing cards. They would be able to buy cigars without leaving the saloon."

"I'm thinking of adding cigarettes and cigarillos as well," Ezra said.

"I'd appreciate it," Chris said, "I have to either order my cigarillos from Mrs. Potter and wait until they get delivered or ride to Eagle Bend. Herndon wouldn't stock them because he says that I'm the only one in town that wants them."

Ezra chuckled, "Then I will definitely stock them for you. Now, I do believe that if we are done here that I have time enough to return my box to my room and still report for patrol on time."

Vin stood nodding at him, then turning to Chris he said, "Y'all latch the door when ya leave. We ain't got a proper lock for it yet. That's on the list ta get done tomorrow along with moving this stuff out and getting Ez a desk put in here."

"Oh," Ezra said, turning back to the judge, "If you could price safes for us when you return to Santa Fe. We would like a medium sized floor model about waist high." He held his hand up to show how tall he wanted it.

"Can't Miz Potter get us one?" Vin asked.

"Perhaps, but I would rather that it not become common knowledge that we have one. If we order through her it will be common knowledge in town within a day of ordering it. If, however, Judge Travis buys us one in Santa Fe he can have it shipped in an unmarked crate with no indication of what it is. We can have the deliverymen bring it to the back door and place it in here unopened. They need not know what is actually in the crate other than that it is something very heavy," Ezra explained.

"I'll see what I can find for you," Travis said.

Ezra thanked him then he and Vin left.

******* 

Tuesday, Mid-morning

*******

Travis exited the bank, determinedly not letting the grin he felt building inside of him out. He didn't want Hamilton to know just how satisfying it felt to have gotten the saloon for the partners for less than what they had expected to pay. There was also the satisfaction of knowing that Hamilton had no idea who his client was. It annoyed him that the man was so blatantly prejudiced against, not only Miss Rocillos simply because she was a woman, but against his boys as well.

He blinked. 'His boys'? Where had that come from? He knew that he had a soft spot for Standish. The man reminded him of himself when he was young, before he studied for the law, back when he was young and wild and free, but when had he begun to think of Standish, Tanner, and if he was honest with himself, Larabee as 'his boys'? And why didn't he think of the rest of the seven that way? JD was younger than any of the three, so why didn't he think of him as one of 'his boys'?

Looking up the street he saw Vin and Chris loading a small roll-top desk on to a wagon parked in front of Jerry Waak's Everything Store while Ezra waved his arms around clearly attempting to supervise them while they proceeded to load the wagon as if he weren't there. Travis chuckled to himself and headed up the street towards them.

As he reached them he carefully schooled his face into a bland mask, but he couldn't quite keep the twinkle out of his eyes. 

Vin noticed him first, "Howdy, judge. You get us the saloon?" he asked quietly

Ezra had started to turn towards Travis but whipped back around to look questioningly at Vin when Vin asked about the saloon. "How..?" he started.

"Seen him come out of the bank, Ez," Vin said with a smirk.

Ezra turned back towards Travis, looking him up and down, then his gaze settled on Travis' face, "You got it," he breathed, relief clear in his voice.

"How do you know?" Chris asked. "He's got a poker face as good as yours."

"His eyes," Vin and Ezra said together, then paused and looked at each other. Vin gave Ezra a nod and Ezra finished, "His eyes look happy, they look satisfied." He wet his lips then asked, "How much?"

"Eighteen hundred," Travis didn't even try to keep the satisfaction out of his voice. "The saloon is yours, gentlemen. Get that office set up. You're going to be needing it."

"When are you going to speak with Missus Broadhurst?" Ezra asked, eagerly.

"I thought I'd wait until tomorrow. Once you get your office set up, we'll need to make notarized copies of the deeds. You'll want to keep a set and I'll need a set to file in the land office. I'd also like to be fresh when I start negotiations with Missus Broadhurst."

"We still have a good bit of work to do in the office," Chris said, "how about we meet there after supper. If you think we need witnesses bring Mary with you."

"I'll do that. She has a Notary stamp as I do. Since I signed the bill of sale on behalf of the partnership it would be best if she notarized the transfer of title," Travis told them.

"We shall see you after supper then, Your Honor," Ezra said.

Travis tipped his hat to them and headed back up the street to the Clarion News.

*******

Wednesday Morning

*******

Mary walked with Travis to the boardinghouse that stood directly across the alley from the empty hotel that was directly behind the saloon. She was well acquainted with the Widow Broadhurst and had offered to introduce him.

They had waited until after breakfast would be over before heading out. Mary had suggested that between breakfast and lunch would be the best time to catch her friend when she wasn't too busy to sit down and talk.

Travis knocked politely on the door and waited for someone to answer.

A young woman no more than sixteen or seventeen came to the door, greeting Mary familiarly, "Mary what a pleasure. Do come in."

"Thank you, Anna, is your mother available? My father-in-law would like to speak to her concerning the purchase of the boardinghouse."

"Oh, she is quite busy, but I'm sure that she will make time to speak to someone interested in buying. I'll let her know you are here," Anna said as she led them into the parlor. "If you will just wait here."

She left them to fetch her mother, returning in just a few minutes.

Travis stood as the older woman entered the room. 

Mary rose as well and greeted her, "Amanda, it is so good to see you. Please allow me to introduce my father-in-law, Orin Travis."

"Judge Travis," Amanda Broadhurst said. She was a tall, sturdy, no-nonsense woman in her late forties or early fifties. Her hair was iron grey and her eyes a deep brown. She greeted him with, "A pleasure to meet you sir," then got straight to business, "Anna tells me that you are interested in buying the boardinghouse."

"I represent a small investment firm that is interested in acquiring businesses in this area. Mary wrote me that you were thinking of selling and assured me that the boardinghouse was a profitable business. Might I inquire why you wish to sell?"

"My sister back east is recently widowed. She and I were our parents only children. She is not in the best of health and has ask that I return east and care for her."

Travis nodded, "And you wish to return to assist her." 

"Yes. However I must inform you that I need to get the price that I am asking for the boardinghouse. I cannot allow it to go for less than thirty-five-hundred dollars."

"I had been told that that was the asking price. My client is concerned with whether you will be leaving behind everything necessary to run the boardinghouse, all the furnishings, the stove, dishes, pots and pans, bed linens, curtains and rugs."

"I am taking only a few trunks with clothing, pictures, mementos and books. I had planned to sell mine and my children's bedroom furnishings."

"How much are you expecting to get for them?"

"I had hoped for at least a hundred and fifty dollars, however Mister Waak down at the Everything Store has not as yet agreed to give me what I am asking. I fear that I shall have to accept whatever I can get."

"I see, so, everything that is necessary to run the boardinghouse is included in the thirty-five-hundred dollars."

"Yes," she said, tiredly. 

Travis thought a long moment then asked, "My client wishes to keep the boardinghouse running. How many boarders do you have?"

"There are eight still here. I normally have a full house. I have ten rooms to let," Missus Broadhurst told him.

He nodded, "I understand that you and your daughters have been doing all the work of running the boardinghouse, are they all going with you?"

Anna spoke up, "Mother wants us to, however, I will soon be eighteen and my boyfriend has asked me to marry him. I intend to stay."

"Anna," her mother began reprovingly.

"No, mother. I want to marry Nick. I want to stay here. I've never even met Aunt Muriel and I have no desire to live in some huge city. Nellie and Millie feel the same."

"Nellie and Millie are only fifteen!" 

"Plenty of girls are married at their age, Mother. I could run the boardinghouse with their help. I already help you with the books. Nellie and Millie do the shopping, the gardening, the cooking and the cleaning."

"My clients will probably do the books themselves," Travis said.

Missus Broadhurst looked up at him and asked, "The investment company is someone here in town?"

Travis hesitated, frowning as he realized that he had given away more than he intended, then said, "Yes."

"Can you tell me who it is?" Missus Broadhurst asked.

"They have asked me not to reveal their identity at this time," Travis told her.

Anna was looking thoughtful then she gasped, "Mister Standish!" she blurted. "He was asking me just last week how much you wanted for the house, lock stock and barrel as he put it. He and Mister Tanner were gone all weekend. I bet he went to win the money."

"Anna! The man is a gambler! I couldn't sell to him."

"He's one of the seven, Mother, and a very nice man, gambler or not. He's the one that stopped that drunken cowboy from harassing me a couple of months ago. He wasn't even on duty that afternoon, but he stopped the man and made certain that I got inside safely before he arrested him and hauled him off to the jail."

"Well," her mother said uncertainly, then turned to Travis and asked, "you said clients, who are the others in the company?"

Travis sighed then said, "Mister Tanner and Miss Rocillos."

Anna looked triumphant, "You know that Mister Tanner is a nice man, Mother. He cuts firewood for you all the time and even taught Jarrod how to use the axe so that he could start helping and Inez is very nice too. She gave me a recipe for Spanish style rice that Nick absolutely loves."

Her mother looked conflicted. "I know that you are determined to remain here, Anna, and I really cannot stop you. You are old enough to marry without my permission. But Nellie and Millie…" she trailed off.

"Don't want to go back east, Mother and they will be sixteen in just four months," Anna said firmly. "They'll come back as soon as they can, and you know it. They're even more stubborn than I am." 

"If it helps," Mary put in quietly, "From what Ezra has said, Inez will be the one that will be managing the boardinghouse. He plans to hire another bartender for the saloon, promote Catherine to cook over there and hire a maid to attend to the rooms upstairs. If Anna can take over as head cook, and Nellie and Millie can continue to do as they have been, I'm sure that they could stay here, in their own rooms free of charge plus they would be getting paid."

"But still, he is a gambler… how can I trust him not to take advantage of my girls?"

"Missus Broadhurst," Travis said, "Ezra Standish is a great many things but one thing that he is not is the kind of man that would harm a woman or a child."

Missus Broadhurst looked at her daughter, sadly, "You absolutely will not come with me will you?" 

"No. I am staying here and if Mister Standish and Inez want me to work for them, then I will."

"If I force Nellie and Millie to come with me, they will resent me and they'll run away and try to get back here, putting themselves in danger. 

"Why don't you talk to Ezra," Mary suggested. "I assure you that, as Anna said, gambler or not, he can be a perfect gentleman. He has never been anything other than completely respectful to me. The only people that I have ever known him to be disrespectful to are those who look down on him. If you are respectful towards him, he will be respectful towards you."

Travis nodded, "He does tend to give as good as he gets."

Missus Broadhurst looked conflicted then sighed, "I need to sell this place and get on the way back east. Muriel has been alone, without family to care for her too long as is. Mister Standish is offering the full thirty-five hundred, correct?"

"Yes," Travis said.

"Very well, but I do want to talk to him before we close the deal."

"I'll go and get him," Mary said. "He's usually up by this time of morning."

As Mary departed, Missus Broadhurst frowned and said, "I'm still not certain about that man. I mean really, he's seldom up before mid-morning."

"Mister Standish is not lazy, madame. He habitually takes the midnight to four patrol in town as well as the early afternoon patrol. He seldom goes to bed before five in the morning and is up by ten or eleven, so he actually sleeps only five or six hours per night," Travis informed her. "He has already said that when I no longer need him and Mister Tanner to continue as peacekeepers that he will most likely confine his gambling to Friday and Saturday nights and try to keep more regular hours the rest of the week." 

He gave her a piercing look, "I would not have taken him on as a client if I didn't think that he was trying to become a better man. He has already made considerable changes to his life style. He's settled down here. He's become an integral part of the peacekeeping force here. Now, he's trying to move away from being a gambler and trying to become a businessman, an honest businessman."

"Then why didn't he want me to know that he is the one that wants to buy my boardinghouse? Why did he send you?"

"Mother," Anna said in an annoyed voice, "it's because you would have refused to even consider selling to him if he had come to you himself. That's why he formed the company. Because people only see the gambler and not the man." 

"Miss Anna," Ezra's soft drawl came from the doorway, gently chiding, "you should not speak harshly to your mother, especially when you only have a little more time to spend with her before being separated for a considerable time, perhaps even permanently." 

As he stepped into the room, Missus Broadhurst noticed that his hat was already off and in his hand. He nodded politely to her then turned to Travis. 

"That said, I believe that we had agreed to keep the names of the owners of Three Trees Investments confidential," he said, disappointedly. 

"We did," Travis confirmed, "and I apologize for my indiscretion. I let it slip that the owner of the firm lived in town and Miss Anna immediately guessed that you were involved."

Ezra raised an eyebrow, turning to Anna, "Really?"

Anna laughed, "Yes, I did. After all it was only last week that you asked me how much Mother wanted for the house and if she would be leaving everything necessary to run it. You were quite detailed in your inquiries." She turned to look at her mother, "He even asked if we would be leaving the chamber pots."

"One must know if one is getting _everything_ that one requires to run a business or only _almost everything._ There is a difference and it can cost one money. However, that is not why you have asked me here, is it?" Ezra said.

He turned to Missus Broadhurst, "What is it that you wish to speak with me about, Madame?"

"Anna, Nellie and Millie do not want to go east with me," she began.

Ezra nodded, then looked over at Anna, "Can I presume that young Mister Ludwick has finally popped the question?"

"Yes, as soon as I told him that Mother was going back east and intended to take me with her."

"I don't see a ring."

"I told him to save his money for a wedding band," she told him, her chin coming up defiantly. "There's no need to waste money on a fancy engagement ring when we need to buy a house. Jewelry and fripperies can come after we have established a home." 

"A wise woman. I hope he is aware of how lucky he is to have you."

"He is," Anna replied, confidently, smiling happily.

Ezra gave her another nod, then turned back to her mother, "I can see where you would be concerned about allowing your other daughters to remain here. They are what? Fifteen?"

"Yes, although they will be sixteen in a few months," Missus Broadhurst said. "Anna has suggested that they might remain here in the boardinghouse helping you, Miss Rocillos and Mister Tanner to run it."

"And you are concerned about leaving your daughters in the care of a gambler, a barmaid and a bounty hunter. I can understand that." He paused a long moment then asked with a twinkle in his eye, "Have you met my mother? She's been to town a couple of times."

"I believe I met her, once."

"She is quite a formidable woman, wouldn't you agree?"

"She certainly seemed so," Missus Broadhurst said in puzzled voice.

"Well, I can assure you that should I even think of doing anything to disrespect your daughters, my mother would happily take my head off at the shoulders and mail it to you in a box. She may have raised me to be a professional gambler, but she also taught me to treat all women with respect, to guard them and protect them just as I would her or my darling, baby sister."

"I didn't know that you had a sister," Mary said.

"Annabelle and I were twins. I was only half an hour older than she was. She died of fever the year before the war began. We were fourteen," Ezra said. He wet his lips and blinked a couple of times, then said, "Nellie and Millie remind me of her. They have the same curly, red-gold hair, the same sprinkle of freckles across their noses that she had. Every time that I see them I think of her. I assure you, Madame, that not only need you never worry that I would abuse them in any way," his voice grew fierce, and his eyes blazed, "but you may rest assured that I will personally _kill_ any man that lays a hand on them."

Missus Broadhurst gasped and looked around in dismay.

Ezra sighed and shook his head, "My apologizes, dear lady. I did not mean to frighten you but I have very strong feelings about men who would harm a woman or a child. If it is acceptable to you, I would be more than happy to have your daughters work for me here at the boardinghouse and I will treat them as if they were my own children." 

He turned to Anna, "Free room and board for all three of you. You can keep your current rooms, there is no need for you to move at all. Miss Rocillos will be the manager, but you would be head cook. I understand that the cook at the hotel gets two dollars a day, would that be sufficient? Also, do you normally serve meals every day or do you let your boarders fend for themselves on Saturdays and/or Sundays?"

"Two dollars a day? That… That would be more than sufficient, and we serve three meals a day, every day, year round," Anna said. "Although I might like a day off now and then."

"We can work out a schedule so that you can have at least one day per week off. I will hire at least one assistant for you. You may also wish to train Nellie and Millie to take over when you marry Mister Ludwick. What all do the twins do besides help you in the kitchen?"

"They do all the cleaning, make the beds, gather the laundry and take it down to the china man to wash, and empty the chamber pots daily. They also do the shopping and tend the garden," Anna informed him.

"I believe that the chambermaids down at the hotel get fifty cents per day plus tips, would that be sufficient for each of the twins?"

Anna looked at her mother. 

Missus Broadhurst nodded, "I believe that that would be agreeable."

Ezra turned to Missus Broadhurst, "Are you taking your personal furniture with you or do you wish to sell it?"

"I was hoping to sell it. It is really much more economical to sell anything heavy and buy more back east rather than ship it that far."

"I was hoping that you planned to do that. Anna and the twins will of course wish to retain ownership of their personal bedroom furnishings, however that leaves what? Three rooms or four including yours?"

"Three. Mine, Jerrod's and Jenny's. Of course, the children's rooms all have single beds. The bed in my room is a large four poster. I was hoping to get—"

"I will give you two hundred dollars, if you leave behind all the furniture, beds, dressers, night tables, dressing tables, wash stands, bed linens and chamber pots. You may take the rugs and curtains if you wish."

Missus Broadhurst blinked then nodded, " Agreed."

"Then I owe you thirty-seven hundred dollars for the house, the land it sits on and everything necessary to run the boarding house and the furnishings in your personal quarters. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Missus Broadhurst said.

"Excellent." He turned to Travis, "If you can take care of the paperwork, I need to get back to the saloon. Inez has promised to teach me to make fajitas."

"I'll bring the paperwork by tonight," Travis told him.

"Thank you," he turned to Missus Broadhurst, "I would be most appreciative, Madame if you would not tell anyone who exactly bought your house. I have several other properties that I wish to acquire. The bank holds their deeds and I doubt that Mister Hamilton would be happy if he found out that I am one of the people that is buying them."

She nodded. "I have never liked that man. When he took over the bank from the previous manager, he tried to tell me that my savings account only drew simple interest. Fortunately, I had the paperwork from when Harold opened the account and could prove that it was set up as compound interest. I will be certain not to mention it to anyone and I'll make sure that the girls know not to as well."

"Thank you, Madame, and good day to you all," he bowed politely and turned to go.

"I'll walk back to the saloon with you," Mary said, "I want to speak to Inez for a moment."

Missus Broadhurst stepped to the door watching them as they left.

Ezra waited until he was outside to return his hat to his head and offer Mary his arm, guiding her across the porch and down the steps to the alley, escorting her to the back door of the saloon.

*******

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next few chapters will skip ahead some. I'll mention the other towns that they visit to play but the next major scene will be the tournament in Bitter Creek.


	9. Four Corners: Thursday & Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go awry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took so long, not only did the chapter not want to go the way I wanted it to, but Real Life decided to be a pain as well. However, here it is at last. 
> 
> I also want to thank everyone that has left kudos and comments on this and my other fictions. When I'm having problems writing I go back and look over them and it keeps me from getting discouraged.
> 
> PS: This is becoming the longest story that I have ever written!
> 
> Marie (Starwinder)

*******

Four Corners

Thursday Morning

*******

The sun was barely up as Orin Travis headed across the street from the Clarion News to the saloon. He wanted to catch Vin and Ezra before they left on patrol. As he saw the two men in question already walking away from the saloon towards the livery, he was glad that he had been used to rising with the sun for his entire life, all sixty-six years of it. If he had been five minutes later he would have missed them.

Stepping down from the boardwalk in front of the Clarion, he hailed them, "Mister Standish! Mister Tanner! Might I have a moment of your time?" he called.

The two men turned back and started walking towards him. When they met up in front of the jail, Ezra greeted him with a polite, "Good morning, Judge. What may we do for you?" 

Vin just gave him a nod and a soft, "Howdy."

"I wanted to speak to you for a moment concerning the other properties you want me to purchase for you," Orin said.

Ezra looked around and although there were few people on the street suggested, "Perhaps we could step into the jail to discuss this."

Orin nodded, saying with a smile, "Let people think that this is peacekeeper business."

Ezra gave a relieved sigh and nodded.

Travis turned and led them into the jail where Chris was on duty.

Chris glanced up at the clock as they came in, "You got nearly a quarter hour until you're due to relieve me, Ez," he said with an amused glint in his eyes.

"I asked to speak to Mister Standish and Mister Tanner for a moment before they started patrol," Travis said.

"Official business?" Chris asked.

"Personal business," Travis replied.

"Then I'll leave you to it," Chris said, rising.

"That is not necessary, Mister Larabee," Ezra said, just as Vin said, "Ya ain't gotta go, Chris."

"In fact," Ezra continued, "I would like you to stay. We are not ready to go public yet with our business dealings and it will appear more like Judge Travis is speaking to us about peacekeeper business if you remain."

"Fine with me," Chris said with a smile, "but if I'm going to be conspiring with you to keep folks from figuring out that you, Vin, and Inez are Three Trees Investments, then you have to start calling me Chris."

Ezra opened his mouth to respond then, shut it again, hesitated a moment then said, "Very well, Mister Larabee," he gave a cheeky grin then added, "From now on, Chris it is."

Chris grinned and leaned back into the chair. Looking to Travis he said, "So, what is this about, Judge?"

Travis turned to speak to Ezra and Vin, "I managed to get the saloon for two-hundred dollars less than the original asking price and we also got the boardinghouse for less than you had estimated. Therefore, I have thirty-eight-hundred dollars left to buy the other five properties with. Since the bank holds the mortgages on four of the buildings that you want, that is all the other properties except the Cigar Store, I would like to negotiate for all four at once."

Vin looked over at Ezra, "Ya did say that the Cigar Store could wait if need be."

Ezra frowned before saying, "I know what I said; however the Cigar Store is a going business. It may not be turning a large profit, but it does have the potential to do so. All the other properties are simply empty buildings." 

He frowned, thinking for a long moment, then asked, "How much do you think you could save us?"

"I intend to haggle Hamilton down to at least twelve-hundred dollars for the four buildings. As you said, they are standing empty now and three of the four have been empty for quite some time. I believe that I can get them for that, then you would still have more than enough money to buy the Cigar Store."

Ezra hesitated then said, "Do it."

Travis gave him a nod, "Good. I'll speak to Hamilton this morning. I should have a good idea how likely I am to get the price that I want by the time you return from patrol."

"If that's decided, reckon that I best be getting' on ta patrol. See ya fer lunch, Ez, Chris," Vin said and headed out the door.

"And you may consider yourself relieved of watch Mist—", Ezra broke off at the glare that Chris sent him and, with a rueful smile, corrected himself to, "Chris."

Chris stood up and stepped around the desk, grinning as he clapped him on the back as he went passed. "That's my name. Get used to using it." He looked to the Judge, "Care to join me for breakfast, sir?"

"I've already eaten, but I could use another cup of coffee," Travis said, then glancing back at Ezra added, "Good day, Mister Standish." 

Ezra smiled at him again and circled around the desk to drop into the chair Chris had vacated. "Good day, gentlemen," he said as he pulled out his deck of cards.

*******

Travis glanced up looking through the front window of the bank which he could see out of from where he was sitting talking to the bank manager, Hamilton. He frowned. That had to be the third time in the last hour that he has seen Ezra Standish patrol passed that window. He turned back to Hamilton, plastering a pleasant smile on his face, even as his mind niggled at the thought. 

The negotiations for the properties that Standish wanted were going well. Hamilton had just said that he would consider eleven-hundred dollars for all four properties. That was below Travis' target price, but he was certain that if Hamilton would go that low, that he could get him to go even lower.

Twenty minutes later and he had what he felt was the best price that he was going to get. He struggled to keep the elation off his face and out of his voice as he said, "Nine hundred dollars for all four properties. That is correct?"

Hamilton sighed but gave a nod, "Nine-hundred dollars, agreed."

As they were shaking hands on the deal, three men burst through the front doors, guns drawn and shouting, "This is a hold up! Everybody stay where you are!"

Missus Potter, who had just come in to make a deposit, grabbed her daughter, Amelia and turned her back to the robbers, pushing the girl into a corner and covering her with her own body.

One of the men grabbed her arm and ripped her away from the girl, shoving her down on the floor.

"Momma!" Amelia cried and flung herself down beside her mother.

The leader grabbed her arm and yanked her up, shoving his gun under her chin, "Give us the money or this little girl is dead!"

Hamilton jumped to his feet and moved to shut the safe door.

Travis stood grabbing Hamilton's arm, "Don't be a fool man! That money isn't worth your life or that little girl's!" He glanced back at the window and saw Standish, step up on the boardwalk one more time, a frown on his face as he noted the strange horses that stood in front of the bank.

*******

Ezra rose from his seat in the jail and headed out to make another round of patrol. His stomach had been in knots all morning. He'd been uneasy even before he and Vin had spoken to the Judge earlier but could think of nothing that could have been causing the feeling. 

Stepping out of the jail door, he looked up and down the street before deciding which way to go. Noting that there were now three unfamiliar horses tied in front of the bank he frowned and turned that way.

As he passed Potter's store he could see that the brand on the nearest horse's hip was not from any of the ranches in the area surrounding Four Corners.

Casey Wells was sweeping the boardwalk in front of the store and he stepped up to her speaking softly, "Miss Wells, I believe that there may be something awry at the bank, please go back inside."

She looked up at him in surprise for a second, then her hand came up to cover her mouth. "Oh!" she gasped, "Missus Potter and Amelia are in the bank!"

Ezra's face went grim, "I'll take that under advisement... but you need to get inside. Now."

She gave a quick nod, then turned going back inside and closing the door after her.

Chris, sitting on the boardwalk in front of the saloon, saw Ezra stop Casey then saw her return inside Potter's, store and close he door. He stood up, his gaze locking on Ezra.

Ezra turned his head as if feeling the look. Catching Chris' eye, he jerked his head to indicate the bank.

Chris frowned. He had seen the three men ride in shortly before, but they hadn't looked like trouble. He hadn't, however, gotten a good look at them, they had come from the south side of town so hadn't passed him on their way to the bank.

He stood giving Ezra a nod to let him know that he had his back and started across the street as Ezra crossed the narrow alley between Potter's and the bank.

Whatever Ezra saw through the bank's front window as he strolled by had him pulling his Colt from its shoulder holster and cocking it.

Chris broke into a run. 

Josiah standing on the porch of the church sipping from a cup of coffee saw Chris start to run and dropping the cup, leaped down from the porch and ran towards him.

Chris saw Ezra reach for the bank's door knob and knew that he would never reach the bank before the shooting started.

Time seemed to slow down as several things happened at once.

One of the robbers pushed through the gate between the front of the bank and the back where Hamilton and Travis were.

Ezra turned the door handle and shoved the bank door away from him, stepping into the bank, leading with the Colt up and ready to fire in his left hand. As soon as he released the doorknob his right hand dropped to draw the Remington from his side holster.

The door banged against the wall and Ezra stepped into the bank.

The leader swung around, dragging Amelia with him but moving his gun away from her to fire at Standish.

Travis shoved Hamilton into the man that had come into the back sending them tumbling to the floor and throwing himself on top of them, grabbing for the man's gun.

Standish shot the man holding Amelia, hitting him dead in his right eye. He simultaneously drew his Remington from his side holster and crossing it under the Colt, snapped a shot at the third man.

Both the leader, who had been holding on to Amelia, and the third man got off shots. 

One bullet struck Standish high on his right side. It hit a rib and ricocheted back out. The other bullet burned across the top of his right shoulder and smashed the glass in the front window of the bank. He staggered backwards and bumped into the door that had bounced back after hitting the wall. He stumbled back another step pushing the door back against the wall.

Time sped back up as Travis wrestled the gun away from the man he had tackled. Leaving Hamilton to literally sit on him, Travis stepped to the gate between the front and the back pointing the acquired gun at the third man, who was trying to raise his gun again despite the bullet in his shoulder.

"Stay put, son," Travis said grimly, "I'm no gunman but from this range I can hardly miss you." He glanced at Ezra who was now slumped against the door and beginning to slide down it. "Mister Standish? Ezra? How badly are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. Miss Amelia?" Ezra gasped.

"She's fine," Travis said, adding in a mutter, "My ass, you're fine!"

Missus Potter struggled up from the floor, "Amelia?"

"I'm here, Momma. I'm not hurt, just scared."

"Then go get Mister Jackson. Mister Standish is _not_ fine," her mother told her just as Chris and Josiah came pounding across the boardwalk and into the bank.

"I am fine," Ezra insisted, from his seat on the floor. Then he frowned, "Mah jacket's ruined," he said, peevishly. His eyes wandered around the room finally landing on Chris, "Chris?" he muttered.

"I'm here," Chris assured him. "I've got it. Nathan's coming. You just hang on."

"He won't let me go," Ezra muttered, looking angrily at the third man. He started to raise the Colt again, pointing it towards the man, "Your fault—"

"Easy, Ez," Chris said, taking hold of Ezra's wrist and pushing it down. "Take it easy now, we've got him. What's his fault?"

"Ridge City. I'm supposed to be in Ridge City tomorrow. Nathan won't let me go 'cause he shot me. Oughta shoot---" 

"You already shot him," Chris said wryly.

"But he's not _dead_ ," Ezra said, petulantly, while the man in question shrunk back not liking the look in the gambler's eyes.

Nathan, who had arrived just in time to hear Ezra's annoyed declaration, said, "Uh-huh. You're right, he ain't dead. How about you let Chris hold those guns for you and let me get a look at how bad you went and got yourself shot up."

"It's his fault!" Ezra insisted, still waving the Colt around. It kept coming back to line up on the third bank robber, who was looking rather disconcerted by the gambler's wild-eyed focus on him. The Remington, still clutched in Ezra's right hand, rested on the floor. 

*******

Vin was almost back to town when he heard the gunshots. It took him only an instant to identify Ezra's Colt Richardson Conversion as one of the guns fired and the Remington as another. The two shots that followed quickly behind them were unfamiliar but sounded like forty-fours or forty-fives. 

He dug his heels into Peso's sides and charged towards the town. 

He hurtled down the main street, zeroing in on the bank as he saw people running towards it. He slowed Peso but used him to force his way through the crowd to the boardwalk in front of the bank. Noting the shot out window, he threw himself out of the saddle and pushed his way through to the open door of the bank and inside.

He swept the room with a look, quickly taking in the three strangers. One lay dead on the floor in front of the teller's window. One lay in the back with Hamilton sitting astride him and Travis pointing a gun at him. One was wounded on the floor with both Chris and Josiah covering him. They were carefully standing to either side of him, leaving a clear line of fire to Ezra, sitting on the floor with Nathan working over him and his Colt still pointed at the man they were covering.

Ignoring everything else, he strode over to Nathan and dropped into a squat beside Ezra, "Hey, there, how ya doing pard?"

Ezra's eyes wandered around a bit before focusing on him. "I can't go to Ridge City," he said with a pout. His Colt rose once more pointing unerringly at the third robber, "It's his fault," he declared again, his face contorting into something halfway between a pout and a scowl. "We had plans. He ruined them."

"Alrighty," Vin said, capturing the hand with the Colt, "How about, you let Nate take care of you and I'll take care of him?"

"You'll take care of him?"

"Yep, sure will. Ya just give me the guns and don't worry about anything," Vin said soothingly.

"Okay," Ezra smiled softly at him and let him take both of the guns. After a moment, Ezra turned dazed eyes on Nathan, "I hurt," he murmured just before his eyes rolled up and he slumped against the wall.

"Of course, you hurt ya fool. You've got two bullet holes in ya," Nathan groused.

"Nate?" Vin asked softly, "He's gonna be alright, ain't he?"

"Yeah. The shoulder's just a bullet burn. Won't even need stitches. Did more damage to his jacket than it did to him. The side is deeper but still just a flesh wound. Barring infection he'll be fine, and you know that he hardly ever gets infections, probably on account of he always keeps his self and his clothes real clean."

Vin sighed and reached up to run his fingers through Ezra's hair. "He does like his hot baths."

"Still, he's gonna have stitches in that side so he can't be riding which means that he ain't going anywhere this weekend. Depends on how he heals iff'n he can head out next weekend."

"He was lookin' forwards ta Ridge City. Think he had some fellas lined up to play with," Vin said with a sigh, "but better ta miss the game than risk him fallin' out on the trail."

He stood up and turned to look over the room, "'Siah, ya wanna help Nate get Ez ta the clinic. I'll help Chris get these two ta the jail and let Peterson know he's got a customer fer boothill."

*******

It was several hours later that Vin slipped into the clinic.

Nathan looked up as the door opened, "He's sleeping. I gave him something for the pain."

Vin nodded, as he dropped into the chair beside the bed and reached for Ezra's hand, giving Nathan a defiant look as he took it.

Nathan just gave him a nod, as if something had fallen into place for him. Then he stood up and stretched, "I think I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat. Reckon I can count on ya to come and get me, if he needs me."

Vin looked up at him and nodded, "Ya can count on me."

Nathan nodded and headed for the door.

"Nate?" Vin called quietly, "ya ain't got a problem with…" he held up the joined hands.

"I can't say I see the attraction, but long as ain't nobody getting' hurt, it ain't none of my business."

"Wish more people felt like that," Vin said, quietly. "Chris knows but I reckon he's the only one. Would rather ya didn't say anything about it to anybody.

Nathan nodded, "I won't be saying anything. I know how dangerous that is. Me'n Ez may not get a long alla the time but I wouldn't want ta put him in that kinda danger."

"Thanks, Nate."

Nathan nodded again and left, closing the door behind him.

When he was gone Vin turned back to the bed to find Ezra looking at him.

"Hey there," Vin murmured and leaned close to press a soft kiss to Ezra's temple, "How're ya feeling."

"Like I have been kicked in the side by a mule and hit on the shoulder with a shovel."

"Real specific there. Ya know for sure what it feels like ta be kicked by a mule or hit by a shovel?"

"Actually, yes. Long story, too tired to tell it."

"Some other time then."

"Remind me."

"I will. Love ya. 'Nez is wantin' ta come see you."

"Tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll tell her."

"You take care of her," Ezra admonished sleepily.

"I will, don't ya worry none."

Ezra blinked a few more times then drifted off to sleep.

*******

Vin made his way through the saloon to the bar where Inez was working, noting that it wasn't very crowded. He didn't stop at the bar but went around the end to join her behind it.

"How is he?" she demanded as soon as he was close enough for them to talk easily.

"Sleepin'. Nate give him something for the pain. He told me to ask ya to wait til tomorrow to visit."

She sighed but nodded. "He will want to come home tomorrow. I can tell Senor Nathan that I can look after him."

"He ain't hurt all that bad, 'Nez. No stitches in the shoulder and only a few in his side. He'll be hurting for a week or so, but he should be up to riding next weekend."

"If he does not get himself hurt again!" she grumbled. "Estúpido! What did he think he was doing, charging in there like that?"

"Reckon he figured he was doin' the job. He don't look like no lawman. If the fellow that had Amelia hadn't been trigger happy, he probably would'a got inside easy enough. Then even if they'd a took his Remington he'd a still had the Conversion and his bitty gun. When they went ta leave draggin' the hostages with them he'd a been at their backs with clear shots at them."

"Oh, I did not think of that."

"Ya gotta know, he did good. Both those fellas had their guns drawed. Ezra got them both, killed the leader and put the other one out of action. Then stayed on his feet after he was shot til the judge and Hamilton had the other two covered."

"Si, he is muy bien at what he does, but I cannot help but worry when he is hurt."

"You 'n me both, but we can't coddle him anymore 'n we'd want him ta coddle us."

She shook her head, "I know this. It upsets me when he becomes sobreprotector, but when it is he who is hurt, I cannot stop myself from becoming the mother hen."

Vin chuckled, "He'll get used to it. We both will. We're all new at this so we all gotta lot ta learn about how to live with each other without any of us steppin' on the others toes." He stepped a little closer and asked softly, "Why don't ya let Riley take over for ya and you and me take a little nap?"

She looked at him with a frown, "Ezra--?"

"Told me ta take care of ya and ya look like ya could use a cuddle."

"Si," she said softly.

"Then come on. I can go round and up the outside stairs, meet ya in Ez's room."

She nodded.

As she moved away to talk to the new bartender, Vin headed back out the front door of the saloon.

*******

It was a good ten minutes before she joined him in Ezra's room. He was sitting in the rocker waiting for her when she arrived. He'd taken off his hat, gunbelt, and capote but nothing else.

When she closed the door behind her, he rose and went to her, slipping his arms around her giving her a gentle hug. He pressed a kiss to her hair then, said softly. "I can take my boots off if ya want, but don't reckon there's any need ta take anything else off, ain't plannin' ta do anything but cuddle."

"Si," she murmured, "I just want to be held."

He removed his boots as she slipped out of her sandals and lay down on the bed.

He joined her on the bed, taking her in his arms. 

She buried her face in his chest and clutched at his shirt with both hands, "We could have lost him," she said, beginning to weep. "I have just found him, and you and we could have lost him!" She began to cry in earnest.

He just held her and let her cry herself out before saying quietly, "Anybody can lose the people that they love at any time, 'Nez. Ain't none of us got anything but today, this day, this hour, this minute. It's all anybody's really got and there ain't nothing we can do but make the most of the time we have. That's why me 'n Ez decided that we was gonna hold on ta what we've got together no matter what anybody thinks and now that we've got you we're gonna hold on to ya, too, for as long as you'll let us, no matter what anybody else thinks."

She nodded, her head rubbing against his chest, "Si. I know this, but I will be glad when the two of you are no longer peacekeepers. When it is no longer your job to confront every bandito that comes here."

"Ain't sure that it not being our job anymore will stop us from steppin' in. Don't either one of us take ta people pushing other people round. Reckon we was pushed around a bit too much when we was too little ta do anything about it for us ta ever stand by and let good people be hurt when we can stop it."

She sighed heavily, "I know this also, and truly I do not wish to change you. That you believe in helping others is a part of why I love you both. I simply do not want to lose you. You are precious to me, both of you."

"I know. Yer precious to us too, ya know that don't ya?"

"Si, I know."

"I'll talk ta Ez, remind him that we need ta think about ya before we do stuff that could get us hurt or kilt. Remind him that I worry, too. I knowed he was in the middle of something 'fore I ever got back ta town. Heard the shots, knowed the Conversion and the Remington by the sound of them. Near scared me ta death, knowing he was in a shooting situation and I wasn't there ta cover him." 

She lifted her head to look at him, "Are you alright, mi amour? I am weeping all over you, without a thought to the fact that you nearly lost him also." 

"I'm fine, 'Nez. Me'n Ez been worrying on each other fer a while now. I'm pret near used to it."

"That does not mean that you are not upset."

"No, it don't, but I done been ta see him. I know that he ain't hurt that bad. You ain't had that chance yet. You'll feel better after ya see him."

She nodded then leaned up and kissed his cheek, "Gracias, for being here for me, but I need to get back to work. Senor Riley says he has experience as a barkeep, but it is still his first day, I would rather not leave him on his own for too long."

"Then I best be lettin' ya get back to it."

"Si," she said softly, reluctantly getting up.

Vin got up as well and started putting on his boots as she slipped back into her sandals.

As Vin went to open the door, she pulled him back for a last hug. "You will stay with me tonight?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," he said, hugging her again. "When ya shut down, I'll walk ya over ta see Ez a minute then we'll come back here."

"He said tomorrow," Inez reminded him gently.

"It'll be after midnight when ya close up. That's tomorrow," he smiled at her.

She laughed softly. "You are as sneaky as he is," she said fondly.

Vin winked at her, "Yep, have ta be ta keep up with Ez."

*******

Inez looked at the clock behind the bar and noted that it was midnight. She was tired of waiting to get to see Ezra. Turning to face the barroom she announced, "I am closing now! Everyone finish your drinks and leave!"

"Hey! You can't close now! It ain't two o'clock yet."

"I can close whenever I wish. I am closing now!" she repeated, reaching under the bar and bringing her shotgun up resting the barrel across the bar, covering the room.

Vin stepped up to the end of the bar turning to face the barroom and drawing his mare's leg. He shook his head at men stupid enough to try arguing with a woman with a shotgun. "Ya heard the lady. Bar's closed. Get moving."

"Dammit! The sign says two a.m. closing!" one of the cowboys protested again.

Chris rose from his seat at the back table in the shadows and stepped out into the light, "Reckon she's closing early, and you boys best be moving along."

Confronted by two of the seven with guns drawn, as well as an annoyed woman with a shotgun, the cowboys quickly threw back their drinks and reluctantly filed out of the saloon, grumbling all the way.

Chris followed them out to make sure that they got on their horses and left, heading back to whatever ranches they worked on. Once he saw them ride passed the edge of town he turned back and re-entered the saloon. "You two headed over to the clinic?"

"Si, senor," Inez told him.

"I'll walk along with you. It's time I was relieving Buck over at the jail anyhow," Chris said.

"Thanks, Cowboy, don't figure any of those fellas will try anything but ya never know," Vin said.

The three of them left, locking the saloon behind them and headed for the clinic. Chris and Vin bracketed Inez as they walked three abreast down the middle of the main street until they reached the livery. Chris left them at the foot of the steps and head back up the street to the jail to relieve Buck.

Knowing that Nathan never locked the door to his clinic, Vin quietly opened it and peered inside, looking around. By the light of the lamp that Nathan always left burning on low whenever he had someone in the clinic, he could see Ezra still lying on the cot in the main room. Pushing the door open, he let Inez slip past him, murmuring quietly to her, "It's his right side that's hurt. Ya can sit on his left."

She nodded and walked quietly to the cot, moving to Ezra's left side and sitting gently on the side of the bed. "Ah, mi carino," she whispered, reaching to caress his cheek.

Ezra blinked awake and smiled up at her, "Hello, Darling. Is it morning already?"

"Technically," Vin answered, with a grin. "We closed down at midnight. It's a bit after."

"Sneaky," Ezra teased affectionately.

Nathan opened the door of his room and looked out, "Thought I heard somebody out here…" he trailed off as Inez bent and kissed Ezra softly on the lips.

She drew back and murmured, "I was so worried, my love." 

Nathan's eyebrows climbed up his forehead. He frowned at Vin, "I thought that you and Ezra were…?"

"We are."

"Then why aren't you upset about…" he gestured to where Inez was clinging to Ezra's hand and murmuring worriedly to him, tears glittering in her eyes.

"Well," Vin shrugged, "she loves him, too an' he loves us both so…" he shrugged again.

"What Mister Tanner is attempting to say is that the three of us are together. Inez has only recently become part of what is between us, but we love her dearly."

"I don't understand. The two of ya? Both? Are ya taking advantage of her?"

"Estúpido!" Inez snapped, standing to glare at him. "No one takes advantage of me! If anything I am taking advantage of their kindness and generosity!"

"No, Darling. I assure you that if we did not wish to help you and take care of you, we would not. If need be we would have ridden away. We love you and--" he broke off abruptly, "You may as well tell him everything. He is the only healer in these parts. You will need him soon enough and it will only be another month or so that we can conceal your condition."

"Condition?" Nathan turned to her, "Another month or so…? You're pregnant?"

Inez sighed and nodded, "The father is gone. When Ezra and Vin discovered my problem, they offered to help me in any way possible."

"That's why y'all suddenly decided ta start puttin' down roots," Nathan said in realization.

"Yes," Ezra said, "the three of us are partners. We have already bought the saloon and Mrs. Broadhurst's boardinghouse. Both are going enterprises. Inez is going to need an income when she can no longer be on her feet all day. Judge Travis is negotiating to buy the old hotel and the empty house behind the saloon for us as well. That will give us a place to live other than the saloon, a place where Inez can have a bedroom that she does not need to climb stairs to reach."

Nathan looked thoughtful for a long moment, "Y'all're serious about this and committed ta helping her?"

"Yeah," Vin said as Ezra said, "Yes, Mister Jackson."

Nathan turned to Inez, "Ya know about them?"

"Si."

"And yer alright with it?"

"Si."

"And they treat ya right?"

She laughed softly, "Si, they treat me like I am the grandest of ladies."

"You have our word, Mister Jackson that nothing happens between her and us that she does not want."

"So, are ya gonna marry one of them?"

"No," all three said at once.

"Why not?" Nathan asked, confused.

"Ah, it seems that you are unaware that married women have even fewer rights than does a male former slave."

"What?"

"A married woman cannot legally own property in her own name. If she owns property before she marries, for instance if she is the only child of a wealthy man and has inherited his wealth or will do so when he passes, when she marries her property legally becomes her husband's. Which is why so many men want to marry heiresses regardless of what they may look like or what their personalities might be. She doesn't even have a legal right to her children. Children are considered to belong to their fathers. A father can marry his daughter off to whom-so-ever he wishes, without her consent. Our dear Inez, wants to be a businesswoman. To own her own business and be in control of her own life. Therefore, she refuses to marry either of us or anyone else. We are none the less committed to taking care of her and her child. I assure you that we will treat her with all the respect and adoration due a legal spouse, whilst allowing her to maintain her independence, own her own business and run it as she chooses."

"But y'all are partners in the saloon aren't ya?"

"Yes, but Inez owns fifty-two percent while Mister Tanner and I, together, only own forty-eight percent. Which means that she has control of the saloon. The partnership agreement also says that she may buy us out, but we may not buy or force her out." 

"So, yer saying that she gets all the good parts of being married but none of the bad parts."

"Yes," Ezra said as Vin nodded his agreement.

"And y'all will take good care of her?"

"Yes," Ezra said as Vin said, "Yeah."

"Good, cause you know there's gonna be folks that have mean things ta say about her having a baby and not being married."

Inez raised her chin and looked at him defiantly, "The people who will talk already talk about me as if I am less than they simply because I work at the saloon. The people that truly care for me will stand beside me and those who do not care for me do not matter to me.

"Chris and the Judge already know," Vin said, "Mary, too. So do we count ya as one of the ones on our side or not?"

Nathan shook his head but said, "Reckon it's like I told ya about the two of ya being together. Long as yer happy, ain't nobody's business but yers. So, yeah. Ya can count me as being on yer side in this."

"Thanks, Nate," Vin said quietly, reaching out to take Nathan's hand and shake it.

"Indeed," Ezra added from his place on the cot, "Thank you, Mister Jackson."

"Gracias, senor," Inez said softly, coming around the bed to give him a hug, "Mucho gracias." 

"Now, y'all need to get on home and let Ez get some rest. I know he's gonna be wanting ta go back to the saloon tomorrow and I reckon I'll let him since he's got the two of ya to keep an eye on him, but he needs to get back to sleep."

"Si, we did not clean up the saloon before we left. We still have that to do," Inez said, tiredly.

"Let it go until morning," Ezra told her. "Open late. There are several other places that people can get breakfast. Skip breakfast and open for lunch."

"We cannot keep closing early and opening late!" Inez chided.

"Tell people that it is only temporary due to new ownership and the need to hire more help. Assure them that in a couple of weeks, a month at most we will be back to serving three meals a day and remaining open until our regular closing time," Ezra instructed. "The regulars will understand and return when we re-establish our routine."

"He's right, 'Nez. Folks like yer food. It's different than what they serve at the boardinghouses and the restaurants. They'll be waitin' when we get ta where we can stay open like ya was."

She nodded, then turning back to Ezra, she bent to kiss him softly on the lips. "You do what senor Nathan tells you. We will be back in the morning."

"Yes, dear," Ezra replied with a smile. He was still smiling as Vin escorted her out. With a sigh he looked up at Nathan, "I don't suppose that you have anymore of that swamp water that helps me sleep?"

Nathan chuckled, "Course I do. Ya must be hurting right bad to ask for it though."

"It's not that the pain is that bad as much as it is that I am restless and know I will not sleep without it and I would very much like to be rested enough for you to release me to Vin and Inez's care tomorrow."

Nathan went to his stove and picked up the kettle setting there. He poured the hot water in it over a tea ball in the cup and brought the cup and set it on the table beside the bed, saying, "It needs ta steep a few minutes then you can drink it." He sat down in the chair beside the bed, knowing that the table was on the wrong side for Ezra to get the cup without help.

Ezra sighed, "I was truly looking forward to going to Ridge City this weekend. Not only did I have plans to play poker, but I have heard that the Grand Hotel there is closing and that they will be auctioning off their furniture. I had hoped to get Inez a new bed with a feather mattress like mine."

"Thought that y'all were sleeping together," Nathan said.

"We do sometimes, but hardly every night. Vin and I usually sleep in my bed and Inez joins us when she wishes. Also I suspect that when she is further along she may not wish to share her bed with anyone."

"Didn't figure that you'd know that much about pregnant women."

"I have numerous aunts and uncles, Mister Jackson. I spent quite a bit of time in their homes as a child and I cannot tell you how many times my cousins and I ended up sleeping on the floor because an aunt in the last stages of pregnancy decided that she was not sharing her bed with anyone and ordered her husband to find somewhere else to sleep."

Nathan chuckled, "So, he took over the kids bed and the kids ended up on the floor."

"Exactly," Ezra said drily.

Nathan checked on the tea, dunking the tea ball several times then laying it aside on the saucer he had placed there for that purpose. "Reckon the tea's ready," he said, "let me help ya sit up enough to drink it."

He helped Ezra sit up and held the cup for him to drink the tea down.

Ezra made a face at the taste but drank it without protest. He had, after all, asked for it.

Nathan sat the cup back down and helped Ezra get laid back down on the bed and as comfortable as he could be, then sat back down in the chair. He sat there until Ezra's breathing smoothed out and he was asleep before returning to his bedroom.

******* 

Friday Morning

*******

Vin and Inez were late getting up, or at least later than usual. The sun was well up before they headed downstairs. Inez diverted to the kitchen to inform Catherine and Manuel that they would not be opening until lunch. She grabbed a tray and fixed Vin and Ezra each a plate. Vin's had eggs, bacon and biscuits. Ezra's only had a couple of biscuits. She added a coffee pot and several cups along with a small jar of peach preserves, knowing that both men loved them on their biscuits.

When she emerged from the kitchen with the tray, Vin took it from her and offered her his arm to escort her over to the clinic.

When they arrived, Ezra was awake and fretting, wanting to head back to the saloon.

Nathan looked up as they came in. "Thank goodness yer here. Maybe you can talk sense to him. I want ta keep him here the rest of the day. He needs to stay in bed at least today and you know if he goes back to the saloon now he'll be sitting up over there all day. I wanna be sure that there's no sign of infection in either wound before I let him go, too."

"He's right, Ez. Ya need to rest today. Me'n 'Nez are gonna be too busy to be running up and down the stairs looking after ya and ya don't need to be sitting up."

Ezra frowned and looking at Nathan, protested, "But you said I could go home today!"

"This evening's still today," Nathan told him. "Ya stay here today. I'll let ya go home when Inez shuts down the saloon tonight. Then tomorrow ya can sit up in the saloon all day if you want."

Ezra huffed an annoyed sigh then said, "I need to send a telegram to Ridge City. I was supposed to be there this evening."

"Ya write it out and I'll see it gets sent," Vin said. "Figured ya had something set up for this weekend, that ya wasn't just gonna head over there and hope to find a game."

"You are correct. I had plans to play with several of the wealthier citizens of Ridge City, including the Mayor and at least two city councilmen. The table stakes would have been two hundred dollars which fortunately is what I have over and above what I need for the tournament in Bitter Creek. There were to be ten players and we were going to play tournament rules in preparation for the Bitter Creek tournament. I stood to win two thousand dollars. Now I will not get a chance to play tournament style until I go to Bitter Creek. I've not made any plans for the next weekend and it is the last one before the tournament." Ezra said, frowning fretfully.

He didn't actually need the practice of playing tournament style, but he still would have liked the chance to win the extra money.

"Can't be helped, Ez," Vin said. "It's way too late to try and leave fer Ridge City now, even if ya could ride as hard as we'd planned on."

Ezra sighed frustratedly, "I know. I just--. It's annoying! I had plans, dammit! And I really wanted to get at least one bedroom set from the auction of the hotel furnishings, for Inez. She deserves a nice bedroom set!"

"Maybe ya could see it one of the fellas ya know will buy one set and let you pay him for it when ya can get over there. He might want a bit more'n he paid for it but at least you would get a set fer Inez."

"I do not need a fancy bedroom set," Inez protested.

"Your bed is a cot, Darling. You may not need it now, but I assure you that when you are further along you will appreciate a larger bed, and a softer one," Ezra told her, "We want you to be comfortable."

He looked at Vin, just as the clinic door opened and Judge Travis stepped in. Ezra glanced at the judge but continued talking to Vin, saying, "I will ask Mayor Black if he will bid on a suite for me and offer to pay him whatever he pays plus ten percent. If someone would get me some paper I'll write out the telegram."

Travis stepped around Vin and Inez coming to the other side of the bed, "It seems I am just in time. I happen to have some extra paper with me. I wanted to talk to you and intended to take some notes."

"Have you gotten the lots that we wanted?" Ezra asked eagerly.

"Hamilton and I have reached an agreement as to those lots, however he mentioned that the bank holds the mortgages on several other properties as well and I wanted to speak to you about them before I closed the deal."

"What other properties?" Vin asked.

"First let me explain why I think you would be advised to buy them. The four properties you wanted as well as the remaining five properties are foreclosures, which means that the purchaser defaulted on the loan, abandoned the property and the bank has the title to the property but is not receiving any money for it. Foreclosures can generally be bought for what was left owed on the mortgage. Sometimes you can get them for less than what is owed if the bank wants to get them off its books. Hamilton has tentatively suggested that he might be interested in allowing the investment company that I represent to acquire all nine properties at a bargain rate, if and only if said company would take them all."

"What is he calling a 'bargain rate'?" Ezra demanded.

"I have talked him down to nine hundred for the four that you had asked me to obtain for you. He's suggested two hundred each for the others. That would be a total of nineteen hundred dollars."

"And precisely which buildings are we discussing."

"The free standing building south of Bucklin's General store is one. The empty store front between Bucklin's and the Gem Hotel is the second. The other buildings are on this side of the street. The oddly shaped building next to Jerry Waak's Everything Store is the third. The fourth is the empty building beside what was Wheeler's Hotel, which by the way is for sale as well but is not included as we are only discussing empty buildings. Finally the large empty building just to the other side of the bootmaker's. All are in fair condition. If you did nothing but resell them, you could most likely make a hundred to two hundred dollars in profit off each of them."

"Vin? Inez? What do you think? I have the money. It would mean letting the Cigar store go until after the Bitter Creek tournament, but that hardly matters."

Vin and Inez exchanged looks then Vin shrugged and said, "It's yer money, Ez."

"No, it's not. It is our money," Ezra said.

"Nope. You had a thousand dollars of yer own money before we went ta Red Bluff. We figure that what we've spent so far was just the Red Bluff winnings and what ya got left, that's yers from before Red Bluff. So if ya want to do this, do it."

"Si, Vin is right. Even if you say the money belongs to Three Trees, it is still your decision. You are the main shareholder in Three Trees. Vin and I vote that you decide," Inez said firmly.

"Think about this, Ezra," Travis said, surprising the younger man by using his first name, "There are only thirty-seven buildings in town and that is counting the jail, the stage office, the telegraph office and the grain exchange. With the saloon and the boardinghouse that you already own, you would own almost one third of the buildings in town if you buy all nine properties. Best of all you would own them all outright. You would have no debt. I understand that it means being temporarily broke--" he broke off as Ezra interrupted him.

"It is not the prospect of being broke again. It is just so much so quickly. Less than a month ago I had nothing other than a thousand dollar stake and the dream of winning big at the tournament in Bitter Creek. I had literally no idea what to do with the amount of money that will be on the table in that game should I win it. Oh, I had vague, grandiose schemes but nothing realistic. Then Vin and I found out that Inez was pregnant and decided to do whatever we could to help her and her child. That gave me a focus, but having never had anyone else depending on me, I find myself second guessing myself, questioning if I'm making the best decisions. It's a bit overwhelming."

"That's why you hired me isn't it? To advise you?"

"I… yes, it is. So what do you _advise_ that I do?"

"Let me try to get all the properties. With the money I'm holding I should be able to get all nine properties and leave you enough money to buy the cigar store."

Ezra nodded and turned to Vin, "You know where I keep the cashbox. Just to be on the safe side, give all the money in it to the judge. He can use as much as he needs and bring me back whatever is left."

Vin gave a quick bob of his head in agreement. "I'll see it's done. Ya wanna take a piece of that paper the judge said he had and write out yer telegram? I can get that done, too. Then I reckon I'd best check the wood pile and make sure that 'Nez has enough firewood to get started on lunch while her'n Cathy clean up from last night."

Travis handed Ezra a sheet of paper, and a pencil along with a book to lay it on to write, and he began to compose the telegram.

Inez said, "I had best be getting back to the saloon. Senor Riley is due any minute to open the bar."

"How is he working out?" Ezra asked, pausing to look up at her.

"He seems to be a steady worker, but it is too early to know for certain how he will do. He says that he has experience and he does seem to know his liquors."

Ezra nodded and returned to writing his telegram as he listened to them talk.

"He does know what the good stuff is and that he don't give it to anybody that don't specially ask for it and he knows not ta serve anybody outta yer bottles. Me'n 'Nez both made sure that he knew that the brandy and that Tennessee sippin' whiskey was special ordered fer you and nobody else," Vin assured him firmly. "I'll be keepin' an eye on him tonight when we get busy, make sure he can handle it."

Ezra handed Vin the telegram when he had finished writing it, saying, "Thank you, Vin. You have no idea how much I depend on you."

"Reckon being able to depend on each other is what makes us good partners, all three of us. We all got different strengths, so together we're stronger than we each are separate," Vin said with a smile. "Now we need ta get, so you settle down and rest like Nate told ya to."

Inez bent down to kiss Ezra lightly on the cheek, "Do as Nathan says. I will bring you lunch, and we will come and take you home when we close the saloon. Si?"

Ezra smiled at her, "Yes, Darling. I'll be good. I promise."

"Gracias," she said with a smile, turning to go.

After Vin, Inez and the judge had left Ezra leaned back against the pillows that he had been propped on for their visit and, with a speculative look in his eye, asked Nathan, "What do you think about the building across the way, Mister Jackson?"

"Ain't thought nothing about it."

"You've never considered the possibility of moving your clinic over there?"

"What? I can't afford the rent that the bank wants fer it and Hamilton sure won't sell it ta _me_ even if I could afford to buy it!" Nathan exclaimed.

"But if the judge acquires it for Three Trees you won't be dealing with the bank," Ezra said. "You would be dealing with me."

"How's that better?"

"Well, now, if you wanted to rent it, I believe I could see my way to take the rent in barter. Our dear Inez is going to need a healer to see her through her pregnancy and childbirth and the child may need care after it is born. If you rent it, the rent would be free medical care for Inez, her child, Mister Tanner and myself for as long as you inhabit the building. Think of it. No more stairs. It is even closer to the church and Josiah who is your primary helper when you need a helper than is this place. There is an empty lot next to it that I am sure no one would mind your using to grow your healing herbs or even a vegetable garden."

Nathan frowned trying to see if Ezra was teasing him then finally asked, "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. I will even go so far as to have the judge see if the empty lot is owned by someone or available for the taking. If it is township land, not designated as a building lot, I may be able to purchase it for next to nothing and then you can most definitely grow anything that you can get to grow on it."

"That building ain't divided up into rooms," Nathan said thoughtfully. "I was in it once. There used to be a store there but the Potters gave credit and they didn't so it didn't last long."

"I am certain that you and Mister Sanchez can build rooms to suit you. Perhaps a waiting room across the front, a hall down the middle with an examining room, and surgery on one side with two small rooms for overnight patients on the other. The back of the building could be divided up into living quarters, a sitting-room, one or two bedrooms, a bathing room, a kitchen and a pantry. You could even have a small lock room to keep your expensive or dangerous medicines in."

"If I was to fix it up like that I'd want to buy it."

"I'll sell it to you for whatever Travis ends up paying for it plus a flat ten percent profit," Ezra said.

"It's just a pipe dream," Nathan said with a sigh. "Hamilton ain't never gonna loan me no two hundred dollars." 

"Which is why you won't borrow it from him. I will finance it for you. For instance, if Travis ends up paying two hundred dollars for the building, I will charge you two-hundred twenty dollars to buy it. That is the ten percent profit that I mentioned. Then I will finance the two-hundred-twenty dollars at a flat ten percent loan fee which will make the amount you pay back two hundred-forty-two dollars. Remember that is the total payback, you won't be being charged interest every month, just the flat fee in the beginning. It's the compound interest that the bank charges that makes so many people default on their loans."

"I can't make regular payments, Ezra. Except for the thirty dollars a month I get for peacekeeping, I don't have a regular income and I use most of the peacekeeping money to buy healing supplies."

Ezra heaved a deep sigh, then slowly asked, "Nathan, how much do I owe you for stitching me up yesterday? For staying here in the clinic today? For the time and effort that you put into taking care of me? For the stinky teas you've poured down me, etc. etc.? Hummm?"

"I don't know, Ez. I don't usually get paid in cash."

"Then why do you think you have to pay me in cash?"

"Because yer… yer… you?" Nathan said, uncertainly.

"Yet I have already told you that if you were renting the building, I would take medical care for Inez, her child, Vin and myself in trade for the rent. Let's say that you are renting it to own it. You're paying rent, I'm taking medical care in trade for the rent but when you have given me two-hundred-forty-two dollars in medical care then you own the building. Is that clearer?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"Nathan, you're my friend. You're Vin and Inez's friend. Of course we would do that for you."

"But it's just you owning the building, ain't it?"

"No. However many buildings Travis gets will belong to Three Trees Investments. Vin, Inez and I are Three Trees Investments. I am the majority shareholder, but they can out vote me if they join together. However I hardly think that they would be upset about my making that kind of deal with you."

"If I had a place for her to live, I could ask Raine to marry me," Nathan said brightening, looking hopeful then determined. "If you get it, I'll take it and after we get it fixed up I'll go get Raine and show it to her and ask her if she'll marry me."

"Ask her before you fix it up, Nathan. Trust me on this. Let her decide how to divide up the living quarters, if you don't she'll never be satisfied with it, but if you do, she will appreciate that you wanted her make that decision."

"Just like I really appreciate that you're willing ta sell me that building like that," Nathan said.

"Well, we may be getting ahead of ourselves. It is only a deal if Travis gets that building for us."

"I know, but just knowing that you'd do that. That yer willing to help me like that, it means a lot, Ezra. I know that we ain't always got along, that I ain't always been the friend that I should be to ya, but this, I don't hardly know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything, Nathan. I'm going to have a whole lot of buildings to figure out what to do with if Travis gets all nine of them for us. This makes one that I no longer have to think about."

"You oughta make you an office in one of them. I mean, Three Trees Investments oughta have an office."

"We're not ready yet to let everybody know that we are Three Trees, Nathan," Ezra reminded him. "It might be quite a while before we're ready for that."

"Still you need to think about settin' one of the buildings aside for that. I really wanna see Hamilton's face when he finds out that you're the one that bought up everything."

Ezra laughed. "To be honest, Nathan, that is something that I want to see as well." 

He leaned back grinning, "You know I should probably design a sign to be painted on the window when I do open the office. Didn't Travis leave a few sheets of paper here?"

"Yep. Want me to get them for you?"

"Yes, and the tray table to lay them on, so I can work on the design for the sign."

"Ya gonna be able to draw with your left hand?"

"Nathan, I am naturally left-handed. Mother taught me to use both hands equally well. It is just as well that she did as the first time she sent me to an actual school, the teacher there believed being left-handed was a sign that you were spawned by the devil. The first day there, I saw some poor child that was using his left-hand be beaten and have his left-hand tied behind him so that he couldn't use it. That was more than enough to convince me that I should never allow the teacher to realize that I was actually left-handed." 

"That's just fool superstition. Which hand you use ain't got nothing to do with whether yer good or bad. As many right-handed bad men as there are should dang well prove that."

"None the less it remains a common belief, especially among teachers," Ezra said, as Nathan settled the bed tray across his lap and turned to fetch the paper that Travis had left behind. "Much as many people continue to believe that colored people are inferior to white people, despite evidence to the contrary."

Nathan turned back, with a smile, handing him the paper, "Are you saying that knowing me changed your opinion of colored folks?"

"It was never about your being colored, Nathan. Mother taught me that lesson early on. Some of the nicest people we knew when I was growing up were colored."

"Then what?"

"In my profession, both of them actually, as a conman and as an itinerant gambler, I have known an extraordinary number of snake oil salesmen and medical quacks. It was the sign outside your door that made me leery of you, your claim to be a healer. Twice I nearly died at the hands of men who made such claims, one of the men that damn near killed me even had a license to practice medicine. So, until you proved yourself to not only be capable but to sincerely care about your patients and listen to them--."

Nathan cut him off with a snarl. "The damn doctor gave you laudanum! You told him that ya couldn't take it and he gave it to you anyway."

"He and his assistant held me down and literally poured it down my throat. When I regained consciousness, I vomited for days afterwards. I tore my stitches three times while throwing up everything that I even tried to eat for the better part of a week."

"That's why the first time ya got shot here I caught ya trying to stitch it up yourself! You was afraid that I'd give you laudanum even if ya told me that you couldn't take it."

"I'm afraid so."

"Well now you know better."

"Indeed, and that is why I no longer allow anyone else to treat me." He lay a hand on Nathan's arm, "You're my doctor now, Nathan, license be damned!"

"Thank you, Ezra. That means a lot to me. Now if yer settled, I've got other patients to check on."

"I'm fine. Except, if you don't mind, I'd feel better if you would hand me my Remington. I just don't like being unarmed."

"You ain't the only one. If Chris was in here he'd've asked for his gun last night."

"I wasn't awake enough last night to really realize that it wasn't nearby."

"Here it is," Nathan said, handing it over.

Ezra took it and lay it on the tray, using it for a paper weight. "Thank you. I'll see you in a bit then."

Nathan nodded and headed out.

*******

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, people did actually believe that being left-handed was a sign that you were "born bad", a child of the devil. 
> 
> My older brother who was born in 1934 was naturally left-handed but his teachers forced him to write with his right hand for the stated reason that left-handed children were the devil's spawn. I never understood how if he was actually a devil's spawn, (he very definitely wasn't) forcing him to change which hand he used would stop him from being one, but then superstition seldom makes any sense.
> 
> As for the women's rights stuff, remember things were way different in the late nineteenth century than they are now. Women's rights only became an issue near the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. There were centuries when women were considered the property of their fathers until they married and of their husbands after they married. As her husband's "property" a woman had no rights. A husband could do whatever he wanted to his wife short of killing her and there was nothing the law could do about it. He could even get away with killing her if he swore that he had caught her with another man and that it was a "crime of passion".
> 
> On the other hand if a man who was not her husband so much as accosted her, he could be arrested. Odd isn't it. A stranger can't so much as touch a woman without risking being arrested but her husband can beat her half to death and the law can't touch him.
> 
> This makes zero sense yet it took centuries for the law to acknowledge that a husband assaulting his wife was a crime.


	10. Four Corners Friday Afternoon to Wednesday Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the bank robbery.

*******

Still Friday Morning

*******

When Nathan left the clinic, Chris was sitting on the porch.

He stood up as Nathan came out, "He up to a conversation?"

"He's awake. Depends on what ya want to talk about whether he's up to it."

"I've got a few questions about exactly what happened in the bank. I was right behind him. I need to know why he thought he couldn't wait for me to catch up."

"Miss Amelia and her ma both told you that that man had a gun to Amelia's head," Nathan said.

"I know that. I'm not saying that he was wrong to go in. I trust his judgement, but I need to know what he actually saw. Hell, Nathan, Travis said he did good, but I still need to know what he was thinking."

"It can be hard to know what that man's thinking and he's always thinking about something," Nathan said then shrugged. "Reckon if he don't want ta talk to you he can tell ya so. By the way, he's got his Remington."

"Finally realized that he was unarmed?"

"Oh, he still had the derringer rig. Wouldn't never let me take it off him but with that being the side he's shot up on I don't reckon he'd be wanting to use that arm too much."

"I'll try not to annoy him badly enough to get shot," Chris said with a grin.

"You do that. One of y'all in my clinic at a time is more'n enough," Nathan said, heading on down the stairs.

Chris tapped lightly on the door, calling out, "Chris, coming in."

Ezra was propped up in the bed with the bed tray across his lap; several sheets of paper lay on the tray. Ezra was doodling on one and the Remington lay atop the others holding them down so that they didn't blow around whenever someone opened the door to the small room.

"Chris, what gives me the pleasure of your company?" Ezra asked with a smile as Chris sat down in the chair beside his bed.

"Reckon I need your report on the attempted bank robbery. Exactly what did you see through the window that convinced you that you couldn't wait for me to catch up to you?"

Ezra sighed and pushed the bed tray away slightly, frowning, "Could you…?" he waved a hand at the tray.

"Sure," Chris said, standing and taking the tray.

Ezra reached for the Remington, taking it off the tray with his left hand and laying it down at his side on the bed before Chris could move the tray out of his reach.

Chris sat the tray over on the table and returned to the seat beside Ezra's bed.

Ezra waited until Chris was seated then began, "When I looked through the window, I saw that the man I later shot, had his gun shoved up under Miss Amelia's jaw. He was agitated and appeared volatile. I truly feared that he might pull the trigger. I did not believe that waiting was a viable option."

"So, you slammed the door open," Chris said leadingly.

"To draw his attention. I felt that he would most likely react to a threat at his back by turning his gun on that threat as Miss Amelia was no threat to him. She was just a helpless child and he couldn't use her as a hostage against someone at his back. I figured the odds to be at the very least sixty-forty in my favor that he would turn his gun towards the door."

"But you didn't shoot him as soon as he took his gun away from Amelia's neck…"

"No. Missus Potter was on the floor between him and me. I waited until he raised his gun high enough so that it was unlikely that he would hit her if he pulled the trigger when I shot him." 

He paused to look Chris straight in the eye, before saying, "Make no mistake about it, Mister Larabee, from the moment that I drew my gun, I meant to kill him. No matter what else happened in that bank, he was going to die."

"It was still a risk. He could have just shot Amelia."

"She was already at risk. He could have shot her at any moment whether I did anything or not. I had to try to save her."

Chris heaved a heavy sigh, then gave a nod. "I thought that you probably had a good reason to go in like you did, but I needed to hear what it was."

"From the moment that I saw him, I was afraid for her life. He… my instinct said that he would kill her."

"You have good instincts," Chris said seriously. "We found the posters on them. Those three have robbed twelve banks in the last four years, besides trying to rob this one. They took hostages at all of them. Two were adult women, one a teenage boy, three pre-teen boys and four girls. All the girls were around Amelia's age. The women were shot but survived, all the boys were let go unharmed, but he killed the girls, all four of them. If you had let him get out of that bank with her, he would have killed her and dumped the body just outside of town the way he did the other four girls." 

"In that case I am doubly glad that I did not hesitate to kill him," Ezra said. "I just… I had such a bad feeling about him, from the instant I saw him… I do not like to kill anyone, but I felt that he… that he needed killing."

"You were right. You did good, Ezra. The Judge said so and I'm telling you, too. You did damn good."

"Thank you," Ezra said quietly.

Chris stood and asked, "Do you want your tray back?"

"No. I am suddenly quite tired."

"Oh," Chris turned back, "This should cheer you up. All three of those yahoos had bounties on them. Travis said you should get the money."

"I had nothing to do with capturing the third man," Ezra said.

"Travis said that your entrance gave him the distraction he needed to shove Hamilton into the guy then wrestle his gun away while they were tangled up on the floor."

"Hamilton will probably want that bounty."

"He won't get it. Travis said that he tried to get up and close the safe door when they burst in, even after they grabbed Amelia. He put the money above Amelia's life. If Travis hadn't stopped him, he would have closed the safe and the leader would have almost certainly killed Amelia because he couldn't get to the money. The reward's yours, Ezra, three thousand dollars. They were all wanted dead or alive. There was two thousand on the leader. The other two were worth five hundred each. It'll take a while to get here but it's yours."

"I… I've never collected a bounty. I'm not certain that I want to take money as a direct result of killing someone. It's too much like… like being a paid assassin."

"Ezra, that you think that is proof enough that you're not an assassin. You need to remember that you didn't kill him for the money. You didn't even know about the money when you shot him. You killed him to save the life of a child. There is a difference."

"I'll think about it."

"You do that. Think about the good that money can do. Even if you put it into your business, it'll be doing good, for you, for Vin and for Inez and her baby."

Ezra nodded slipping down in the bed, reaching up to tug at the pillows that he had been propped up on.

Chris shook his head and stepped back to the bedside, "Let me, you can't get them one-handed and Nathan will have my hide if I let you bust your stitches trying." 

"Thank you, Chris. Would you do me a favor? Stop by and ask Inez if she can make my lunch chicken soup. I don't think I can handle anything heavier."

"Sure. Do you need anything else? Maybe something for the pain?"

Ezra shook his head, "Not yet. I'll wait until after lunch to take anything else."

"All right, then I'll let you get some rest," Chris said and left.

As he stood on the clinic porch he looked back at the door and frowned. Ezra had seemed a bit down. Although Chris knew that much like him, Ezra liked to be left alone when he had something on his mind, it might be best for him not to be alone for too long at a time. 

Looking down the street he spotted Buck and smiled to himself. Buck could cheer up a martyr.

Grinning he headed down to intercept his oldest friend. He'd have Buck head over in a bit. He'd give Inez the message Ezra had asked him to deliver then he'd drop by and check on Vin. He'd see what Vin was up to and if he could maybe drop in on Ezra for a bit, maybe stay through lunch. Nathan would be back by then. After lunch Inez might stay a bit then he'd stop back by and see if Nathan would let Ezra sit out on the porch under his watchful eye. If Ezra got tired they could tuck him back into bed and let him sleep until Vin and Inez came to take him home when the saloon closed.

Sounded like a plan.

He strode purposefully on.

*******

Friday night

*******

Nathan looked up as the door opened. "Ya'll must've closed early again."

"Si. Until he is better we will be closing at midnight," Inez said.

"He awake?" Vin asked.

"He just dozed off a few minutes ago. He's been awake since around nine fretting over when y'all were coming ta get him."

"Ah'm awake," Ezra grumbled, "'bout time you got here."

"Sorry, Ez," Vin said, "damn drummer waiting on the stage got all liquored up and started a argument. Other fella took a swing an' got the whole dang saloon involved. Took near an hour to sort it out and clean ever thing up."

Ezra groaned. "How much damage?" he asked, with a frown.

"Not near as much as I 'xpected. Couple of chairs, one table, a few glasses an' a bottle or two of the cheap whiskey."

"We shall wait until after the tournament to replace the chairs and table," Ezra ordered. "It's not a priority."

"Ya said that Travis said that yer getting the bounty on those fellas."

"He also said that it would take a while to get here," Ezra reminded him, "I have paid off all the tabs we were running, and I would prefer not to restart them especially when it is something that can wait. The saloon is seldom full enough to need all the tables and chairs. One table and a couple of chairs can wait a few weeks."

"Si," Inez said, "I have had to made do before when the owners were slow to approve the purchase of items to replace those that had been broken."

"So, ya ready to go home?" Vin asked smiling as he brought over Ezra's boots.

"Lord, yes," Ezra said with a sigh, "more than ready. I am looking forwards to my featherbed."

"Let me help you sit up," Nathan offered reaching out to him."

"Yeah, you just sit on the edge of the bed an' let me get your boots on fer ya," Vin instructed.

Ezra obeyed him, enjoying having Vin and Inez taking care of him. While Vin put his boots on for him, Inez gathered up his jacket and the rest of his things, including his guns.

Once on his feet he reasserted his independence and insisted on walking out of the clinic on his own. Once on the porch he moved to the rail and used it to steady himself as he walked. As he started down the stairs, Inez moved to walk in front of him to make certain that he took it slow and Vin took his right side, one hand resting at the small of his back.

He sighed and shook his head, "Y'all do know that it is my arm and side that are injured, not my legs." 

"Yep," Vin said agreeably, "also know that after the better part of two days lying down, yer gonna be weak and wobbly on yer feet. Gonna need a few days to get yer strength back. Those bullets might not've done a lot of damage, but you lost a good bit of blood. Takes time to build it back up."

"Ah, see. Just how long do you intend to shadow my every move?"

"Tomorrow at least. Maybe the next day. After that ya should be okay on yer own, long as ya don't try to do too much. Figure you rest up till Thursday and Nate night even let us ride over to Ridge City next weekend but ya gotta mind him till then."

"Traitor," Ezra said teasingly, "since when are you on his side?"

"Since it's you that's shot up."

"So, the next time that you get 'shot up' I get to be on his side?"

Nathan, walking quietly behind them unnoticed by Ezra, grinned chuckling quietly to himself. Remembering how Ezra had reacted to Inez the day that they had discovered that he and Vin were going partners with her in the saloon, he'd be willing to bet that Ezra was a bigger mother hen than the other two put together.

Nathan's grin widened. His life might have just gotten easier. With Vin and Inez fretting over him, Ezra hadn't been half the trouble that he usually was. If it worked with Vin then his two worst patients might just become his two best patients. That was a heady thought.

*******

Nathan stayed until Vin and Inez had Ezra changed into his nightshirt and tucked into bed, quietly observing the interaction between the three. He grinned as it became quite clear that Inez was the one in charge. It only took a look from her to silence Ezra's protest about him staying and to ensure that Ezra drank down the willow bark tea that Nathan had brought along knowing that the dose he had given Ezra in the clinic would be wearing off soon.

It was Vin that went behind the screen with Ezra to help him change although Inez did insist on taking a look at the wounds after they had removed Ezra's shirt.

It was Inez that shadowed Ezra as he walked to the bed and slowly climbed in, while Vin hung Ezra's and his gunbelts on the bedposts and made sure that the guns were within easy reach.

Nathan had to shake his head when he saw that Ezra still had his derringer rig and raised a questioning eyebrow at Vin.

"Better ta let him have it. He'll fret all night and not rest at all if we try to get it off him. 'Sides he'd have ta pop it outta the rig and pull the hammer back 'fore it'll fire. Ya can't just pull the trigger and it go off."

Nathan nodded at that. "All right, reckon it's safe enough then. Y'all get some rest and I'll see you in the morning."

When he was gone, Vin asked, "So how are doing this? Don't want ta hurt ya in our sleep, Ez. Why don't ya and 'Nez take the bed and I'll rest in the rocker?"

"No," Ezra said, petulantly, "I want you both with me."

"Ez, I don't rightly see how we can all lay without bumping yer wounds."

"I don't care. I need you both with me," Ezra said stubbornly, "We can all lay on our left sides with me spooned around Inez. I can rest my right arm over her. You can spoon behind me with your hand resting on my hip. Neither one of you will be touching my shoulder or the wound over my ribs."

"Ezra…."

"Vin, you know that when we spoon none of us really move around in our sleep. You won't hurt me and even if you did bump one of my injuries, it would be worth it to have you with me. I need to hold you both as much as you need to hold me. Please, come to bed."

"All right then, let me get changed and washed off a bit and I'll be ta bed in a bit."

"Thank you," Ezra said quietly.

*******

Saturday Morning

*******

The next morning, Nathan headed over to the saloon as soon as he noticed that the front doors where open, finding Vin sitting at their regular table with a plate filled to the brim with eggs, bacon, and biscuits.

Looking around as he took a seat beside Vin and signaled Manuel that he wanted a breakfast plate as well, he asked, "Ezra ain't up yet?"

Vin chuckled, "Heck, Nate, now that Ez is back in his own bed, yer gonna need dynamite ta get him out. You really want him to rest you should send him back to his own bed ever time. He purely hates that cot at the clinic and don't never rest good on it."

Nathan looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded, "Reckon now that I know that he's got you'n Inez ta look after him that I could do that. It weren't never that I didn't want him to be comfortable, it was just that without anybody ta keep an eye on him, he's not likely to do as I tell him and not taking care of himself can be deadly."

"We know that, and ya ain't gotta worry about that. Me'n "Nez will always take care of him."

"Good. Did y'all check the wounds this morning?"

"Yeah, he grumbled a bit but 'Nez gave him that look of hers and he settled right down. Wounds look good. They're still plenty red but not swoll or puffy and there ain't no red lines streaking off from them."

"Then they ain't infected. That's good. I'll let him sleep till lunch. If he ain't woke up by then, I'll go up and check on him."

"Are y'all takin' bout me?" Ezra's groggy voice came from behind them in the direction of the stairs.

"Yep," Vin replied without the slightest hesitation, "what are you doing up?"

Ezra shuffled over to the table, and ignoring everyone else in the saloon, dropped into the chair to Vin's right and leaned against him. "You left," he pouted, his voice too low for anyone else except Nathan to hear.

"Ez, they's people around," Vin chided, gently.

"Don't care," Ezra said, then yawned and snuggled closer.

Nathan shook his head, "Ez," he said loud enough for everyone in the saloon to hear, "I need to check yer wounds. Let's head back upstairs."

Ezra sat up and gave him a sleepy glare, "I just came down the damn stairs. I am not going back up them right now!"

"Y'all can go ta the office." Vin said, again loud enough for everyone else to hear, "Me'n 'Nez put a cot in there yesterday so that he'd have a place ta lay down if he need to without having to climb the stairs to his room. Knowed he wouldn't stay upstairs, and he don't need to be climbing up an' down them."

Nathan nodded and started to push back from the table.

"Finish your breakfast, Nathan," Ezra said with a sigh, "I need coffee before you start poking at me."

He looked around, and seeing Miguel called, "Miguel, I need coffee."

"Si, senor!" the Mexican boy called and popped back into the kitchen returning with a coffeepot and tin cup.

As he set the coffee cup on the table and filled it with from the pot he winked at Vin, who grinned back at him.

Vin suppressed a chuckle and winked back at him recognizing that the boy was Manuel not Miguel.

It was amusing that Ezra, who was normally one of the most observant of the seven, had yet to figure out that Inez had two helpers, not one. The Rodriguez twins were almost completely identical. Vin and Inez could tell them apart only after having seen them together. Ezra didn't have as much interaction with them and had in the three months since they had come to town and the month since they had come to work at the saloon, only seen them separately. Sooner or later he would figure out that there were two of them, but it wouldn't be today.

In the meantime the twins delighted in keeping him from figuring it out, being careful not to let him see them both at the same time.

Ezra stared down at his coffee for a long moment then looked up at the coffeepot then squinted up at the boy. "What is your name?" he demanded.

Vin blinked. _Opps, so maybe it would be today._

"Senor?" Manuel asked, swallowing hard.

"You are not Miguel, or at least you are not the Miguel that I was first introduced to. I suppose that it is possible that you are Miquel and the other one is not Miguel."

"¿Cómo lo sabes?" Manuel asked, forgetting his English in his surprise, "no nos vio juntos!"

(How do you know?) (You did not see us together.)

Ezra blinked, taking a moment to translate the words, because he was still sleepy, "Your hands. Hold them out."

When Manuel did as instructed, Ezra stared at them a moment then nodded, "The ring finger on your right hand is noticeably longer than the middle finger. The other one's is noticeably shorter."

"Our hands?" Manuel asked, in dismay.

Ezra stared at him a long moment then said, "Now that I know there are two of you, I can see that your eyes are also darker, nearer black than the dark-brown that his are. The right eyebrow has more of an arch and the right side of your mouth also tips down a bit where his tips up, so that you always seem to be frowning a bit while he seems to be smiling. I will be able to tell you apart from now on. So, perhaps you should tell me your name unless you want me to refer to you as 'not Miguel' from now on."

"I am Manuel, senor and you are the only person that has ever been able to tell us apart without having seen us together."

Ezra shrugged, "The things that I have noticed are the things that I look at on every person that I meet. I watch people's hands to ensure that they are not cheating at the poker table. Facial expressions are also things that I watch closely, looking for tells in my opponents at the table. Noting the size, shape and other physical attributes that a person's hands, eyes and facial features have is a natural consequence of that. Add in an extremely good memory, and I am chagrined that has taken me this long to realize that there were in fact two of you."

"Ya had a lot on yer mind, Ez," Vin soothed.

"Still," Ezra said, "it is annoying. Such inattention to details could easily get me killed." He took a sip of his coffee, "Thank you for the coffee, Manuel. Please tell your brother that the two of you need to find someone else to play your little game on." He paused then looked up with a grin, "Perhaps Mister Conklin would be an appropriate target."

Vin and Nathan both laughed out loud at that. 

"Yer pure evil, Ez." Vin said fondly, "Ole Conklin deserves that if anybody does."

Ezra beamed at him, then looking over at Nathan said, "Now that I am fortified with coffee and you have finished your breakfast, I am prepared to endue your poking. Have you seen the saloon's new office yet?"

Nathan stood up, "Ain't had a chance till now." He stepped up to Ezra's right side to walk as a shield against anyone bumping into the gambler's injured side. He walked slowly, matching his steps to Ezra's.

Inez stepped out from behind the bar as they passed it and moved to Ezra's left side slipping her arm around his waist. Vin followed behind until the four of them disappeared down the back hall and into the saloon's new office.

*******

Saturday and Sunday passed quietly with Ezra doing little more than lazing around in his big bed or sitting up in the saloon. He did sit in on a few poker games Saturday night with Vin sitting watchfully behind him. Inez hovered over him, making it clear that she considered him to be 'hers', frowning at any working girl who came too close and scowling at any cowboy that tried to come on to her.

Monday morning found him feeling much better and he came downstairs at mid-morning without either of them having to come up and wake him. Nathan checked his wounds, the two of them retiring to the office by themselves this time, a clear indication that both Vin and Inez felt that he was healing well enough to be allowed to reassert his independence.

Travis came into the saloon walking calmly and looking quite solemn until he saw Ezra then a smug smirk slowly crossed his face making Ezra sit up straighter, eyes bright with anticipation. 

"You got them all, didn't you?" Ezra asked, eagerly.

"I did," Travis said, still smirking as he lay the nine deeds on the table in front of Ezra one at a time so that the gambler could count them. "I want to thank you for hiring me to be your negotiator. It's been years since I have had the chance to stretch my haggling muscles. It has been fun."

"I don't suppose that there was any money left over," Ezra said.

"Actually," Travis said, smiling as he reached into his inside coat pocket, "there was." He handed Ezra a thick envelope.

Ezra took the envelope and quickly thumbed through it his eyes widening slightly. "There's over a thousand dollars in here."

"Thirteen hundred dollars," Travis informed him.

"But I thought that you said that Hamilton wanted twenty-five hundred dollars at least for all nine properties."

"That is what I said however, I was able to get him to go lower. I reminded him that all the buildings were standing empty and therefore were deteriorating, meaning that the longer he waited to sell them the less he would get for them." Travis paused then said, "I don't think he'll be here much longer. The west doesn't seem to agree with him."

Vin snorted, "You can say that again."

"Hopefully he won't try to abscond with the bank funds when he goes," Ezra said thoughtfully.

"You think that he might?" Travis asked.

"He seems the type," Ezra said, "and his letting this many properties go at the price he did… it seems suspicious to me. Not that I am not grateful for the bargain, but really? Nine properties for eighteen-hundred dollars? Either he is desperate to get them off the bank books or he is planning to abscond with the money and wanted that cash in hand before he left. There is the fact that both the Royal and James payrolls will come in on the Wednesday stage as they have promised their hands that they would have their pay for Thanksgiving weekend, which is this coming weekend."

"You think that he'll take delivery of the payrolls then close at noon as usual on Wednesday and take the money and run."

"It's a possibility," Ezra said.

Vin and Travis exchanged looks.

"It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on him Wednesday," Travis said. "If nothing happens he need never know he was being watched…."

"But iff'n he runs, we'll be on him right away."

"It might be best to let him run a ways, perhaps to the next town or train station, just to be clear that he is running. That way when you arrest him and find the money on him, it will be obvious that he was trying to steal it," Ezra said.

"If he runs, me'n Chris can follow him real discrete like," Vin said with a nod as if that settled that.

"I'll ride with you," Travis said.

Vin gave him an evaluating look.

"I can keep up and I can be discrete, Mister Tanner," the older man assured him.

"How will we know if he's takin' the money?" Vin asked.

Travis gave Ezra a long look then asked quietly, "Would I be correct in assuming that neither the bank door nor the safe would be a problem for you to open?"

Ezra ducked his head, then shrugged and said, "You could assume that."

Vin raised an eyebrow at Travis, "How'd ya know that Ez can…" he twisted his hand in the air like someone opening a door.

Travis smirked and gave him a look, "According to the records that I have been able to find on Mister Standish, he has let himself out of half the jails between Texas and Wyoming. I was actually surprised to find him still in the jail here the morning after I had him arrested. He is quite the escape artist."

Ezra ducked his head again but grinned unabashedly.

*******

By Wednesday morning, Ezra was moving much more easily and on his own without Vin or Inez hovering as badly as they had the first few days.

Nathan had told Ezra that if the stitches were ready to be taken out very early Thursday that he would agree to him heading out to Ridge City. He also told him that they would need to leave immediately after the stitches came out so that they could travel slower, because he still didn't want Ezra to be riding as hard as he and Vin had when they went to Red Bluff.

Vin was sitting out on the saloon porch with Chris in their usual place to watch the stage come in. Vin and Travis had met with Chris letting him know that they wanted to keep an eye on Hamilton that day and why.

Ezra was inside the saloon, working at the small rolltop desk that they had acquired for the saloon office from Jerry Waak's Everything store. He had the town map spread out on the desktop and was looking at what all the town actually had in the way of businesses, trying to think of what he should use each of the buildings that he had acquired for.

He had pretty much decided that the smallish store front between Broadhurst's Boardinghouse (he hadn't changed the name) and Digger Dave's would become the office for Three Trees Investments when they were ready to let it be known that the three of them were Three Trees. 

The freestanding building at the south end of the street across from the livery was already promised to Nathan and only awaited Nathan's being able to go see Miss Raine and ask her to marry him and show her the building before he began moving in.

That left him with seven buildings to find a use for. He frowned. Counting the closed down hotel, there had been seven hotels in town. That seemed an unusual number considering how small the town was. It was no wonder that the one that he now owned had gone out of business.

So, what else could he use the building for? His mother had done quite well by turning the lobby of the hotel she had bought into a casino and this hotel was right behind the saloon. So a casino was a definite possibility. Perhaps a private room for poker games with higher stakes than in the saloon… and a billiards room. There had been a billiards room in town when he first arrived, but it had closed down. What else? Darts. Vin was a wizard at darts, as accurate with them as with his rifle. He could offer monthly tournaments. A poker tournament the first weekend of the month, followed by a billiards tournament the next weekend and a Darts tournament the weekend after that. That would leave him with one free weekend most months and two in the months with five Saturdays for traveling.

He marked the hotel with that then moved on to the empty building beside it. There really wasn't much to decide about it. He had intended from the beginning that it would be his, Vin's and Inez's home. All he had to do was decide what rooms would be used for what and that was best decided when Vin and Inez could be there to give their opinions. While Vin would just shrug and agree with almost anything that Ezra decided, Inez was far more opinionated, and he really didn't want to get on her bad side. It was generally best to let the woman in your life have her way unless it was something crucial and he really couldn't see how what each room in their home was used for could be of critical importance. He would hand those decisions off to Inez without a second thought. She could pick out the furnishings as well.

That still left five buildings. His mind flitted to the bounty money that Larabee and then Travis had assured him was his. He still felt… disquieted at the thought of accepting it. While it was true that he and Vin and Inez could use the money, he was still reluctant to use what he regarded as 'blood money' to build their future.

Perhaps if he used it for the betterment of the entire community it might feel a little less… wrong. 

The town still did not have a school. While it was true that most communities built freestanding schoolhouses a short distance from the town proper, what was wrong with using an existing building?

He studied the map again. There were several possibilities, or were there? The empty building beside the Cigar Store was just two doors down from Digger Dave's and therefore unsuitable. The one between The Clarion News and what had been Wheeler's Hotel was across the street but also too close to Digger Dave's. The one between the Bootmaker's and Virginia's Hotel was a possibility. Unfortunately Virginia's Hotel was more like Virginia's Bordello, making it unsuitable as well, not to mention the dangers presented by the livery corrals being right next to it. That left the oddly shaped building between Jerry Waak's Everything store and the clothing store. 

There was an alley between that building and the clothing store, leaving it attached only on the side of Jerry's. It was well away from both saloons. There was also open ground on two sides of the building, giving room for a playground without any obvious dangers to the children.

He would have to check it more closely, but it appeared to be the most suitable building for a school. It was large enough to accommodate every child in town even if you counted the colored children, the Mexican children and the children of the 'working girls' and he would count them.

The donation of the building for a school house and the bounty money for school supplies to the town would be made with the written agreement that no child would be turned away for any reason. If the upstanding citizens of Four Corners didn't want their children going to the same school as the children of coloreds, Mexicans or people that they considered to be less 'decent' than themselves they could start their own school.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the office door. 

A second later, Travis stuck his head in the door.

"Hamilton has left the bank through the back door and gone to the livery where he rented a buggy. He had a rather large valise with him. Vin is following him. Chris is watching the bank. We need to check the safe."

Ezra nodded and stood, picking up his outer coat from the chair it rested on. This late in November the weather had turned quite cold. He worried that they might get snow overnight. If so, he was certain that Nathan would withdraw his tentative agreement to let him go to Ridge City. The other town was higher in the mountains and almost certain to have snow it if snowed down here.

He and Travis crossed the street and made their way down the boardwalk to the alley beside the bank, turning there and going around to the back.

It only took Ezra a moment to open the back door and the three men slipped inside, moving to the safe.

As Ezra started to squat down in front of the safe, Travis pushed over Hamilton's chair, "Sit. There's no need for you to be uncomfortable while you do this."

As he sat down, Chris dangled something in front of him.

Ezra raised an eyebrow, "Is Mister Jackson aware that you have absconded with his stethoscope?"

"Yep," Chris said with a grin, "and I told him what I wanted it for, too." 

"He did not object to my cracking the bank's safe?"

"Seemed to be all right with it after I told him that we suspected Hamilton had lit out with the bank's money and needed you to open the safe so that we could be sure if he had or not."

A few moments later they had their answer. All the paper money and the gold coins were gone. Only the silver and copper coins remained.

"Why would he leave those behind?" Chris asked.

"A matter of value versus weight," Ezra told him. "Paper money is light, and while gold is heavier than silver or copper, it also has much greater value. He took what constituted the greatest monetary value without being so bulky that he could not put it in the valise that you mentioned nor so heavy that he could not carry it easily."

Travis looked grim, "We'd best get after him. Lock it back up and don't let the townspeople find out that the money is missing. We don't want a panic. We'll be back as quickly as we can."

Ezra nodded, then said with a frown, "He's taken the ledger, too. Without it there is no way to know exactly how much money he has stolen unless you do apprehend him."

"We'll make sure that we get it back," Chris said.

"What should I say if someone asks where the two of you are?"

"Tell them that I'm out at the cabin and that Travis is with me, that we had some business to discuss."

"Do try to be back by lunch tomorrow. Inez, Mary, Catherine and Missus Potter are preparing Thanksgiving dinner at the saloon for all of us and several other invited guests including Missus Wells and her niece. Questions will be asked if you have not returned by then," Ezra told them.

"We should be back," Chris assured him, "Vin thinks that he's headed for Eagle Bend. The stage leaves there in the morning heading east. I expect that we should be able to apprehend him tonight. We'll let him buy his ticket then confront him."

Ezra closed the safe door and checked it to make sure that it was locked then they headed for the back door. As they stepped outside, he hooked the stethoscope around his neck, and used his lock picks to re-lock the door, saying, "I shall see that Nathan gets this back. He and I along with Mister Wilmington and Mister Dunne should be able to deal with any disturbances that occur whilst you are gone. I shall see you tomorrow." 

He turned towards the saloon as the two men headed for the livery to get the horses that Tiny had waiting for them.

*******

Less than an hour later, Buck and JD were sitting out in front of the jail, when they saw two wagons loaded down with furniture making their way into town, accompanied by a trio of outriders. 

The two wagons pulled to a stop in front of the jail and one of the outriders, brought his horse in close, "Gentlemen," he said, sounding remarkably like Ezra except without the deep honeyed drawl, "might I inquire where I might find Ezra Standish."

Buck looked him up and down, critically, "That kinda depends on who you are and what it is ya want with our Ez," Buck replied, still smiling.

The man noted that the smile didn't reach Buck's eyes and gave a slight nod of his head. Ezra had described all of the seven to them and this man met the description of Buck Wilmington, a man whom Ezra had declared to be something of a rogue but fiercely loyal and a dangerous man to cross.

"My name, sir, is Peter Black, I am the mayor of Ridge City. The gentlemen on the wagons are Tony Bellarosa owner of Bellarosa Haulage, and Laurence Henderson owner of the Top Hat Hotel. My fellow horsemen are James Marston and Simon Lark two members of our city council. As to what we want with Ezra, we have brought the items that we bid on in his behalf at the auction of the Grand Hotel's furnishings. We were quite disappointed that he was unable to attend the game in Ridge City last weekend and thought that since he had missed it that we would ride over and see if he felt up to a few hands of poker this weekend."

"Yer missing Thanksgiving with your families to come play poker with Ez?" JD asked with a frown.

"Alas, we are five old bachelors and thus have no family to spend Thanksgiving with," Tony said from his place on the seat of the lead wagon.

"So, if you'd tell us where we can park these wagons until Ezra can tell us where he wants them…" Peter said leadingly.

Buck rose easily and came to stand on the steps pointing at the ally directly in front of him. "Park them over there and I'll take you to Ez." He came down the steps as the two men driving the wagons turned them to move them into the alley.

The three horsemen walked their horses alongside him as he headed across the street. 

JD followed behind them.

The three men dismounted and tied their horses in front of the saloon as the two wagon drivers parked their wagons in the alley and came to join the other five on the boardwalk in front of the saloon.

Buck pushed his way through the batwing doors and into the saloon, calling out, "Hey, Ez, you got visitors!"

After a moment Ezra emerged from the back hallway, where he had been working in the office. He knew better than to assume that Buck would bring the visitors back to the office. Spotting Black and the other men, his face brightened, "Peter! And Tony? You've come as well. Laurence, James, Simon, what has brought you all here?"

"We thought that since you were under the weather so to speak and missed the game last week and we did have the furniture you wanted that we would just bring it to you and see if you felt up to a game," Peter said, coming to stand near him. "Are you all right?"

"A little sore still but healing quite well according to Mister Jackson. He had tentatively agreed to allow me to travel to Ridge City this weekend."

"Well," Tony said, coming to stand near Ezra as well, "that won't be necessary. We have come to you."

"Please, won't you all sit down," Ezra said. Then turning to Buck and JD he asked, "Would you care to join us, or do you need to return to patrol."

"I can do the walk through on my own, Buck, if you want to stay."

"Thanks JD," Buck said grabbing an extra chair and pulling it over to the table where Ezra was seating his visitors. He noted with some satisfaction that Ezra had steered them away from the seven's usual table.

"Not a problem, Buck," JD assured him.

"JD," Buck called after him, "round up a couple of fellas to unload those wagons for Ez, would ya. Tell them to meet us around back in say half-an-hour."

Turning back to the visitors he asked, "Have you had lunch? Inez makes the best fajitas this side of the border."

"She does indeed," Ezra confirmed. He lifted his left hand and signaled Inez to come over.

She joined them smiling at Ezra and saying, "Si, senor, what may I bring you?"

Ezra took her hand and kissed the back of it, "Allow me to introduce you to some friends from Ridge City, my dear." He quickly introduced the five men then said, "They would like lunch, please."

"There is not much of the fajitas left, Senor," Inez said softly.

"Are there rice and beans left?"

"Si, quite a bit of those."

"And tortillas to wrap them in?"

"Si."

"That should be sufficient. I doubt that any of these gentlemen are quite the gluttons that Buck and Vin are," Ezra said with a smile.

Peter spoke up, "Ezra is right. Whatever you have will be quite enough, I'm sure."

"Si, senor. I will bring it right out."

Conversation around the table was lively as the men ate and joked and teased with Ezra. Buck watched with interest, seeing the gambler relaxed with the other men highlighted for him the fact that Ezra was seldom this at ease with the seven except for Vin and more recently Chris.

Buck frowned as he watched Inez. She touched Ezra almost every time that she passed him as she waited the table. The frown deepened as he realized that she was avoiding him at the same time. Although he sat beside Ezra, she always came to the table at Ezra's other side and went around the table circling away from Buck and never coming close enough to accidentally brush against him. 

It was closer to an hour than half-an-hour before they finished eating and were ready to unload the wagons. Ezra led the visitors out the back door and directed them to the front of the house that stood directly behind the saloon. As he crossed the front porch to open the front door, Inez emerged from the back door of the saloon and mounted the steps of the house.

Ezra smiled at her and turning to the men unloading the wagon, told them, "Miss Rocillos will direct you as to where everything is to be placed."

She smiled back at him, then turned to the men and said. "Everything you have brought will be in the rooms on the right side of the house. The first room is the parlor. None of this goes in there. You may put one of the beds in the second room as that will be Senor Ezra's room. Nothing goes in the small room behind that one and the fourth room. It is to be the nursery. The second set—" 

Buck cut her off with a yelped, "Nursery? Inez?"

"Si," Inez said firmly, glaring at him, "I shall need a nursery in another six months or so."

"Who the hell?" Buck snarled turning and heading for Ezra.

"He is not the father!" Inez snapped.

Buck whirled around to face her again, "Then who is? And why is he…" he shook his hand waving it around.

"It is none of your business who the father is. He is gone. Senor Ezra and Senor Vin have agreed to act as my child's godfathers and to help me raise it."

"Which one are you marrying and when?" demanded Buck.

Inez's face turned furious and she stepped up to Buck poking him in the chest and backing him away. "I will not marry! No man will own me!" She gave him a shove and he tumbled down the steps, Peter and Laurence jumping out of the way while Tony made a grab for him to try and keep him from hurting himself.

Head high, she turned back to the men unloading the wagon and continued as if Buck had not interrupted her, "The second set goes into the fourth room, the last one on that side. The third set goes upstairs. I do not know which room Senor Vin will want."

"Vin will want one of the two rooms at the back of the house," Ezra said. "They overlook open ground rather than the town. I believe that the one to the right of the hall would be his preference as it has windows that face both south and east." 

He offered Inez his arm and they moved into the house, leaving Buck standing staring after them as the men began moving the furniture into the rooms that she had directed.

Peter followed Ezra and Inez into the house, "I got you five bedroom sets, Ezra. Where do you want the other two?"

"Bring them upstairs. You can put them in one of the other rooms. There is no need to assemble them. We shall decide where we want them later." He paused, then said, "You didn't tell me how you managed to get all this for a mere two hundred-fifty dollars."

"Once Laurence and Missus Muckleshoot had all the suites that they wanted to replace the worn out ones in their hotels, there wasn't anyone else to bid. I actually bought everything that he had left for a thousand dollars. I figure to resell them a few pieces at a time, so if you want more, when you have the money to buy them let me know."

"If you would hold on to it all until after the Bitter Creek game, I will pay you two thousand dollars for it, should I win the tournament."

"And if you don't win the tournament?"

"Then you can sell them on as planned. The tournament is the weekend after this one. It is not a long time to wait."

"All right," he paused then said with a grin, "did you know that he had a pair of billiard tables for sell as well?"

Ezra gasped, his eyes brightening. "Tell me that you bought them," he demanded.

"I did," Peter replied with a grin. "Of course, I intend to keep one of them for personal use."

"How much do you want for the other?" Ezra asked eagerly. He might not have to buy a new table, and have it shipped all the way from St. Louis or even farther.

"I was planning to ask for a thousand dollars for it. It is a very nice table. The top is in excellent condition and all the balls and the rack are there. I bought all the pool cues as well. Again in excellent condition. For you, I'll let it go for eight hundred and the promise that you'll help me improve my game. You are a better player than I am."

"You are too impatient," Ezra said, "and patience is not something that can easily be taught. None the less you have a deal, again dependent on my winning the tournament in Bitter Creek."

He studied Peter a long moment then asked, "Will you be competing at the tournament?"

"No. Tony, Laurence and I will be there, but we won't be entering the tournament. We'll be betting on you to win."

"James and Simon?" 

"Not planning to go, but they are sending some money along for us to add to our bet that you will win."

Ezra shook his head, "So, no pressure then. I not only need to win the tournament to ensure mine, Vin's, Inez's and her child's future but to ensure that my friends don't lose money betting on me to win."

"Ezra," Peter said seriously, "you are our friend and that won't change if you don't win. We're betting on you to make sure that you know that we have faith in you. We believe that you can win that tournament."

Inez smiled at Peter from her place at Ezra's side, "Gracias, senor. It is good for him to know that it is not only Vin and myself that believe he is as good as he thinks he is."

"You're welcome, Ma'am," Peter said with a smile. "I'd best be checking on the progress downstairs." He turned and left, passing Buck on the stairs as the other man came up them.

Buck stopped in the hallway looking into the room where Ezra stood with Inez in his arms, her head resting on his uninjured shoulder. For a moment he felt overwhelmed with anger, but it faded quickly. 

She needed someone now that would stand solid with her. 

He knew deep inside that he didn't have it in him to settle for just one woman. 

Ezra though… once Ezra made up his mind about something he was like bedrock; nothing moved him, nothing swayed him. Strangely enough, for all they appeared opposites, Ezra and Vin were alike in that. Stubborn as a pair of rocks and once they settled on something they were about as moveable as a pair of mountains.

If the two of them had promised Inez that they would take care of her and her child, heaven help anyone that tried to harm her or that baby.

As for him, he had Blossom. She was a working girl, but she had given up all except a few regulars, just enough to pay for necessaries and a few extras. Blossom didn't expect him to settle down, didn't want him to, even. She didn't mind that he chased after other women, as long as he didn't mind that she still took a few clients. It was probably the closest he would ever come to settling down.

Ezra looked up and into Buck's eyes. Buck gave a sharp nod, touched his hat to the other man and turned to make his way back down the stairs. 

Inez would be well taken care of.

He stepped out on the porch, smiling, feeling lighter than he had in a couple of weeks, since the morning that Chris had made chicken and dumplings for them all because Inez was ill. He smiled at the men unloading the wagon and stepped closer, "Let me help you with that," he offered reaching for one end of the wardrobe that the man was struggling to slide off the wagon.

*******

TBC


	11. Four Corners: Thanksgiving Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra receives visitors, including his mother.

*******

Chris, Vin and Judge Travis confronted Hamilton as he left the stage office in Eagle Bend just before it closed at six that afternoon. 

Chris and Vin were waiting in the mouth of the alley between the stage office and the hotel next door when Hamilton emerged from the office. 

Judge Travis was waiting on the boardwalk on the other side of the stage office in case Hamilton turned that way. When he saw that Chris and Vin had pulled Hamilton into the alleyway where they had been waiting, he hurried over there, following as they hustled the bank manager towards the back of the buildings. 

Chris had Hamilton's arm, dragging him along and Vin had a hand over Hamilton's mouth keeping him from attracting attention by calling out.

Travis joined them, drawing the spare gun that Vin had loaned him. Covering the outraged banker, he nodded to Chris, "Lets see what's in that valise." 

Turning his attention to Hamilton, he said firmly, "You keep quiet."

Chris released Hamilton's arm and Vin grabbed it with the hand that wasn't over the banker's mouth.

When Hamilton tried to pull loose Vin shifted his hand to not only cover Hamilton's mouth but to use the thumb and forefinger to pinch his nostrils closed.

Hamilton struggled briefly but Tanner's sharp, "Quit it or I'll smother ya!" froze him.

Hamilton turned desperate eyes on Travis but found no sympathy there.

Chris sat the valise on the ground with a thump, nodding at how heavy it was. Opening it he tossed a couple of outfits of clothes on the ground then tipped the bag so that Travis could see the stacks of bills and bags of coins in the bottom of the bag. There were even a couple of ingots of gold and silver in the bag. 

He reached in and pulled out the ledger that was wedged on one side of the valise. "Looks like it's all here," he told Travis.

Travis turned back to Hamilton, grim-faced and hard-eyed, telling Vin, "We'll do this as quiet as possible. Tie him up and gag him. Chris go get the horses, including that buggy of his. We'll take it back to the livery. We're heading on back right now. We still have some daylight left."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay overnight here, sir?" Chris asked.

"I'm sure. The sooner we get this money back to Four Corners the better. He turned to Vin, "Do you think that we'll have enough moonlight to follow the road back?"

"Moon's near half full but it'll set before midnight. Ain't but a bit after six now, we should be able to travel till about ten if we stick to the road. We'll have ta go slower after nightfall, but we oughta make it more'n half the way tonight. Should be home by eight or nine in the mornin'."

"Good. The bank isn't scheduled to be open tomorrow, so we should be able to return the money before anyone else knows that it was taken," Travis said with a nod.

*******

Maude Enid Standish nee Maguire sat in front of the dressing table in her hotel room in Eagle Bend and stared blankly into the mirror.

It would be an hour before the sun rose but if she wanted to be in Four Corners before noon to have Thanksgiving dinner with her son she would have to leave at sunup. 

And she did want to be there. She did want to see Ezra. She didn't understand the urgent feeling that she had about this, but she had lived on her instincts too long to disregard the feeling. The Maguires were an old Irish clan and had long claimed to have 'the sight'. While she had never had an actual vision, she did have an uncanny ability to know when to slip away into the night before a mark turned violent.

The horse and buggy that she had rented in Ridge City two days ago, upon finding that the only stagecoach that would reach Four Corners before Thanksgiving had left earlier that morning, was in the livery down the street. The livery man had instructions to see to it that the horse was harnessed and the buggy ready as soon as it was light enough for her to see to drive to Four Corners.

Lord, she was so tired. It had been well after dark when she arrived the night before and she hadn't slept well.

All she wanted to do was to crawl back into the big soft bed behind her and go back to sleep. Perhaps a week might be long enough for her to feel rested.

Not that she could afford to rent the room for a week. She was down to her last twenty dollars. Her luck had gone sour in New Orleans two months before and she's barely been able to win enough to make her way to Four Corners since then. She didn't dare run a con, not when her luck was this sour.

With a sigh she began to remove the cold cream that she had put on before going to bed the night before. When she was done she studied her image in the mirror carefully. She was aging well, the lines around her eyes and mouth were still small and fine, her hair still the same platinum blonde that it had always been. There was no gray in it, the hairs that had changed color had turned pure white and shone like silver.

She stared at her makeup kit for a long moment, too tired to face 'putting on her face'. Then squared her shoulders and straightened her spine. She was a Maguire of Clan Maguire and a Standish by marriage and neither ever let the world see them beaten down.

Half an hour later she emerged from her room, wearing one of the last two dresses that she owned and carrying the one small bag that she still possessed. She walked sedately to the stairs, descending regally to the lobby where she checked out. As she did so she inquired about which of the town's three restaurants would be open at this hour.

A half an hour after that with a simple breakfast of biscuits and jam under her proverbial belt, she made her way to the livery and giving the liveryman a generous tip, (appearances must be maintained, after all) she allowed him to help her into the buggy and picked up the reins.

*******

It was a little after eight-thirty in the morning when Vin slipped in the back door of the saloon and greeted Inez with a smile. 

"Ez up yet?" he asked softly as she gave him a welcome home hug.

"Si, he and his friends from Ridge City are in the front having coffee and talking," Inez informed him. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, we caught up ta Hamilton and got the bank's money back. Hamilton's in jail. Chris and the Judge are returning the money to the bank's safe."

"They do not need Senor Ezra to open it for them?"

"Naw. Ez wrote the combination down fer the Judge after he opened it yesterday." He looked around the kitchen, "Ya'll need me ta cut ya some more wood for the stove or anything?"

"No. We have everything that we need. Go and see Ezra. He was up with the sun, worrying about you."

"I'll do that," Vin said hugging her again. "Give me a holler if ya need me for anything." He headed into the front of the saloon.

Ezra looked up and smiled in relief when he saw him. 

Vin dropped into the chair beside him, saying quietly, "Chris and the Judge will be over soon as they get the money back in the safe."

*******

Maude stopped twice along the road to stretch her legs and let the horse rest a few minutes while she took a long drink of water and gave the horse water as well. She made good time and it was just past eleven by her pin watch when she arrived in Four Corners.

Alighting from the buggy at the livery, she instructed the man there to care for the horse and hold the buggy for her as she would be taking it back to Ridge City in a few days.

Carrying her small bag she walked towards the saloon, hoping that Inez would know where Ezra was if he was not there. 

The saloon was open, but the batwing doors had a sign hanging on it saying "The Bar is closed. We are serving Thanksgiving Dinner. Everyone is invited but no alcoholic drinks will be served." It was signed by Inez Rocillos.

She pushed her way through the swinging doors and stopped, looking around. Although she didn't let it out, she sighed internally when she saw Ezra sitting at the table on the raised platform, along with Larabee, Tanner and none other than Judge Travis.

He was here. She blinked back the sudden moisture in her eyes.

He looked up and saw her. For an instant he froze then he smiled, a bright, beautiful grin that showed his dimples. Rising from his seat he quickly made his way to her.

"Mother! You made it!" He drew her close and brushed his lips across her cheek in a barely there kiss, murmuring softly, "We'll just pretend that I sent you an invitation, shall we?" Then saying loudly enough for the entire room to hear, "I was afraid that you wouldn't get my telegram in time to make it today."

She blinked, "Telegram?"

"Then you didn't get it? That just makes it better that you decided to come on your own. " He leaned in again, asking softly "Is that your only bag?"

She nodded slightly and saw the understanding in his eyes.

"You haven't checked into the hotel yet have you?" he asked brightly, tucking her hand into his elbow. "I ask because my partners and I have recently purchased this saloon."

"You and your partners, darling?" she asked, innocently.

"Yes, Mother. Miss Rocillos, Mister Tanner and I have bought this saloon. You will of course stay here. I won't hear of anything else. We have four rooms open; you may have your choice. "

He gallantly escorted her to the table, introducing her politely, "Mother, have you met Judge Orin Travis? He is my employer. I believe that you know Mister Tanner and Mister Larabee."

She blinked at the order in which he mentioned their names, knowing that there was a significance there that she wasn't quite catching, but smiled and responded to their greetings.

Ezra smiled at her but did not relinquish her arm, saying to the other men, "I'll show my mother to her room so that she may freshen up. I'll be back momentarily."

With a nod to the other men, she let Ezra lead her away as it was clear that he had no intention of allowing her to converse with the others at that moment. She frowned slightly as he escorted her to pick up her room key then up the stairs to her room. 

Once upstairs, Ezra led her passed the first two doors, to the third one on the right. As he unlocked the door and showed her in, he informed her, "This is the best room we have, Mother, and it is directly across from mine." 

He set her bag on the dresser and turned back to her as she removed her hat, continuing to talk, making certain that she knew the lay of the land, "Miss Rocillos has the next room over. My room is, as I said, directly across the hall. Mister Tanner has the last room on the other side directly across from Miss Rocillos and nearest the back stairs. The room on your other side is vacant as are the two front rooms across the hall. The first room on this side at the head of the stairs is occupied by Miss Blossom Call."

She raised an eyebrow, "And Miss Call is?"

"A very friendly and popular young lady. I'm sure you know what I mean."

"Of course, dear boy." She replied, regarding him shrewdly, "Now tell me what you aren't telling me."

He stared at her a long moment, then he said, "I know that you are here because you are having difficulties, and I have every intention of helping you. You are my mother and I love you dearly but what I tell you now goes no further. If you breathe a word of it to anyone, I will put you on the next stage out of this town, without a dime. Have I made myself clear?"

She studied him for a long moment, taking in the hard look in his eyes, and the tight set of his shoulders. His right hand rested on his hip, close to his gun, the jacket pushed back to clear the weapon. Although she knew that he would never draw on her it was the stance that mattered, that told her just how serious he was.

There was an unyielding look on his face that she had seldom seen but she knew to pay attention to. Ezra was, and always had been, extremely flexible. There were few times when he would dig in his heels and flatly refuse to be moved. This, however, was clearly one of those times. Whatever was going on, he was deadly serious about it and meant every word he said.

She tightened her lips and gave a sharp nod, "You are very clear."

He took a deep breath then let it out slowly before saying, "Miss Rocillos is pregnant."

"Is it yours?" She asked even though she was relatively certain of the answer.

Ezra had never had a great deal of use for women in that regard. If Ezra were to be rolling around in the hay with anyone it would be more likely to be one of the other six members of his little group. She blinked, oh, that explained the order in which he had introduced Larabee and Tanner. Larabee was the leader of the seven but Tanner was more important to Ezra. Clearly they were more than friends and partners.

"No. It is not. The father is no longer a resident of this town. He is long gone, and Miss Rocillos refuses to marry anyone, although both myself and Mister Tanner have offered. Her condition is what prompted us to scrape up the money to buy this saloon."

"When she begins to show, everyone will assume that it is either yours or Mister Tanner's, will they not?"

"That is what we intend for them to think."

"The townspeople will not approve."

"We do not care. The saloon is not the only thing that we have purchased. I will be participating in a poker tournament in Bitter Creek next weekend. I intend to win it. By the time that it becomes obvious that Inez is with child, we will own much of the town. We already have Mister Larabee, Mister Jackson, Mister Wilmington, Judge Travis and Missus Travis on our side. Hopefully the rest of the seven will back us up as well when they learn of Miss Rocillos' plight."

"Even so, it won't be easy," Maude said softly, remembering how hard it had been when Ezra had been born over two months after his father's death. Even with a marriage license to prove that she was a widow, it had been very difficult without a husband. Many people had still looked askance at her with a newborn babe and no husband in attendance.

Perhaps this was why her instincts had sent her here at this time. She knew what it was like to be a woman alone with a child on the way. She straightened her back and squared her shoulders, "What can I do to help, darling?"

"Stay, at least a while. Be the public face of our investment company. Only a few trusted people know about Miss Rocillos' pregnancy or know that Miss Rocillos, Mister Tanner and I are the owners of the Three Trees Investments. We are not yet ready for it to become common knowledge. If you pretend to be the force behind Three Trees no one will think twice about it. Almost everyone in town knows that you are my mother. People will assume that you started up the investment company using information that I provided you with, so they won't be at all surprised that you and I are putting our heads together concerning the properties that Three Trees has bought. It will allow me to openly examine the properties and discuss their uses without having to deal with the other townspeople knowing that I hold the majority interest in Three Trees Investments, until of course we are ready for them to know."

She smiled softly at him, "You are wonderfully sneaky, darling, and I am glad that we can work together again. Now I would like to freshen up."

He smiled at her, stepping close and giving her a hug, "Everything will work out, Mother. We really shouldn't be at odds."

"No we shouldn't. We were always a formidable team, Ezra."

He pressed a light kiss to her cheek, "And we will be again. I'll fetch you when dinner is served," he said, taking his leave.

*******

Ezra returned to the table where Vin, Chris, and the judge awaited him. 

As soon as he sat down Vin asked, "What's going on, Ez? I know you never sent her a telegram."

Ezra bit his lip and grimaced. "You are of course correct," he said, pulling out his cards and beginning to shuffle them. "There is no stage today which means that she must have come into town by other means and she only has one bag with her…"

"You think she's in trouble," Chris offered.

"At the very least she is down on her luck," Ezra said, "and she will never admit it, to anyone other than me. She has too much pride. We both do. I'm learning that there are people that you can allow to know that you aren't always at your best but Mother… Mother has never had anyone that she could depend on other than herself or me and she tends to think of me as a last resort. If she is here…," he let it trail off.

"She needs your help," Vin said.

"Yes and while I'm tempted to make her beg, I just can't do it. Whatever else is between us, she is my mother and I love her."

"So what do you want us to do?" Chris asked.

"I've told her about Three Trees Investments," Ezra told them. Then turning to the judge he added, "She has agreed to be the public face of the company for now, allowing us to openly examine the properties that we have purchased without having to let the entire town know that we are the owners of Three Trees. Would you please just go along with that?"

Travis thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I don't see any reason not to. I will be leaving on the next stage to complete my circuit. It makes sense that the company would send a representative to oversee their investments here." He smirked at Ezra and Vin, "Given that you do own the company, it is up to you whom you choose to represent the company."

Vin turned his glass around in his hand then asked, "Are you sure about this, Ez? She ain't gonna try to undermine us is she?"

"Mother knows when I am serious about something, Vin. She is currently nearly penniless. She needs my help. She won't risk turning me against her. She will do exactly as I tell her, or I will put her on the next stage out of town without a dime."

"That's rather harsh, isn't it?" Travis asked.

"You don't know my mother, sir. You have to be firm with her. If you give her an inch she will take a hundred miles."

"Alright then," Vin said, "but you get to tell 'Nez."

Ezra sighed but set down his drink and rose heading for the kitchen.

*******

"Inez?"

Inez turned and smiled at Ezra when he called her name, "Si, amado," she said softly.

"Might I have a word with you in the office."

"Si, un momento, por favor," she replied, turning back to finish what she had been telling Catherine before following him through the door that led directly from the kitchen into the office.

He took her into his arms as soon as the door closed behind her, holding her tightly.

She immediately stiffened, knowing that something was wrong. "What is wrong, mi carino?" she asked.

"Mother is here," he said quietly then stepping back said, "I have asked her to stay here… upstairs."

She could tell by his demeanor that he expected her to be upset with him. "I see," she said quietly. "I suppose that you have a reason for this?"

"Yes, I believe that Mother may be in some sort of trouble, at the very least she is low on funds. The dress she is wearing while fashionable enough for these parts is not up to her usual standards. Also she has only a single bag with her. From the size of the valise, she has at most one other dress and given that she came directly to the saloon rather than checking into the hotel first, leads me to believe that she may not have enough money to pay for a room and meals."

Inez studied him for a long moment then said, "I do not dislike your mother. She was the one that first hired me to manage the saloon."

"I know. However her presence necessitates a few changes in the living arrangements. It is of course only temporary, but I believe that it would be better if we remain here in the saloon, just for the duration of her visit, of course."

"Why?"

"Depending on how she came to be impoverished, there may be someone looking for her. We can lock the outside door upstairs and set a watch if I decide we need to. I'll know more when I have had time to discuss what has brought her here."

She sighed, knowing that arguing with him was most likely useless. He was very protective of the people that he loved and both she and his mother fell under that category. "Arrange things as you think is best. We can move into the house after she has left."

Her pulled her back into his arms, pressing a kiss to her lips, "Thank you, darling. I will feel much better having you both close enough for me to protect you."

"I know, but do not think that I will allow you to wrap me in cotton. I am still working until I feel that I am ready to stop." She turned back towards the kitchen then stopped and turned back to him, "Do you intend to tell her about…?" She laid her hand on her stomach.

He ducked his head, "I fear that I have already done so, my dear. I needed her to understand that she is no longer my first priority."

"How did she take the news?"

He smiled at her and dipped his head, smiling slightly, "Quite well. She likes you and as my father died before I was born I believe she may have thought back to her own difficulties of being a new mother without a husband."

Inez studied him thoughtfully. "Very well. Is there anything else?"

"I've asked her to be the public face of Three Trees Investments until we are ready to go public with the information. She certainly knows how to manage such an enterprise."

"And she agreed?"

"Yes," he said.

She heaved a sigh and said, "If you are sure about this…"

"I'm sure, darling. Everything will be fine."

"Very well, I must get back to work."

He stepped close and took her into his arms, again. "Thank you for being so accepting."

"She is your mother. I will be best if we get along."

"Still, thank you."

She stepped back shaking her head, "Go on now. Dinner is almost ready. We will serve buffet style. Get Senor Vin and Senor Chris to help you start setting it out on the bar. 

She went back to the kitchen and he exited through the other door of the office and rejoined Vin, Chris and the judge at the table on the platform out front. 

When he sat down, Vin was saying to Chris. "Reckon that'd be alright."

Raising an eyebrow at them, he asked, "What would be alright?"

"I suggested that I move over here from the boardinghouse," Chris said. "That way there'll be another person to share the watch at night. That was what you were planning on wasn't it?"

"Well, yes, but I wouldn't want to put you out," Ezra told him.

"Not a problem. In fact if it's alright with you I can give up my room at the boarding house and take a room here. I can pay you what I'm paying at the boardinghouse and that way I'll be here to keep an eye on Inez when the two of you are out of town."

Ezra glanced over at Vin and seeing the approving look on his face, he nodded. "Very well, however, I see no reason to charge you for the room."

"If you don't charge me for the room, Inez is going to wonder why, and you don't want her finding out that you asked me to keep an eye on her when you are out of town. You know how she feels about your as she calls it 'overprotective nature'," Chris reminded him.

Ezra frowned then said, "All right, but we'll charge you half of what you are paying at the boardinghouse and it includes meals at the saloon… but not whiskey."

Chris laughed when Ezra tacked on the bit about not including his whiskey in the room and board. Turning to Travis he asked, "Will you still pay the standard amount for the room and board?"

Travis nodded, "Both the dollar a day and the room and board allowance are standard payments. They don't change when you change accommodations. Ezra, should know that as he has moved back and forth between here, the boardinghouse and the hotel twice already."

Chris nodded, "Then if you don't charge me as much as the boardinghouse, I will have the money to eat at the restaurant when I'd rather."

"Deal," Ezra said. "Perhaps you could take the room between Mother's room and Miss Call's room?"

"I ain't particular which room I have," Chris said then added thoughtfully, "You know if you're offering half-price rooms, Buck might be willing to move over here, too. That'd clear up two rooms at the boardinghouse so that you could rent them to someone else." 

"I shall ask Inez for her opinion. She may not want him here, given how he pursued her for so long. I do, however, believe that it would be best if we did bring the rest of the seven in on this. Misters Dunne and Sanchez are the only ones left that are unaware of Miss Rocillos' condition. If we wait until it becomes obvious they may feel slighted that we did not tell them sooner."

*******

Gradually the rest of the seven wandered into the saloon, and the men began bringing the food out of the kitchen and setting it up on the bar, buffet style under Inez' directions.

Judge Travis took Ezra's friends from Ridge City with him across to Mary's to help bring what she had cooked over to the saloon.

Chris and Buck went over to Missus Potters to assist her in bringing her food to the feast.

JD had ridden out to Miz Nettie's earlier to help her and Casey bring what they had cooked into town.

Rain, independent as always, had shown up shortly after sunrise and helped Inez and Catharine in the kitchen, grinning at the surprise on Nathan's face when he realized that she had slipped into town without letting him know.

The ladies had laid out eight place settings per table but allowed the people to decide where they would sit. 

The long bar practically groaned with all the food sitting on it. There were two turkeys, a ham, two beef roasts, a huge basket of fried chicken along with mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, turnip greens, baked yams and all manner of desserts. 

Chris sat with Mary, the judge and Billy along with Mrs. Potter and her two children, making seven at their table.

Vin and Ezra sat with Inez at the table on the raised platform, inviting Maude, Nathan and Raine to join them.

Buck, JD, and Josiah sat at a nearby table with Nettie, Casey and Blossom Call.

Everyone overstuffed themselves then sat back to relax and enjoy the afternoon of mingling and talking.

Eventually the ladies started packing up the food and parceling it out among themselves, with everyone taking something home with them for the next day. They deliberately left the remains of the beef roasts and the turkeys for Inez to serve the next day at the saloon since they had closed to business for the day to allow them to hold the dinner there.

Finally it was just Vin, Ezra, Inez and Maude sitting at the table on the raised platform while Chris walked Mary and the Judge across the street to the Clarion News.

Ezra leaned back in his chair and fixed Maude with a searching look. "You haven't said why you decided to come visit at this particular time, Mother."

She smiled at him, "Can't I just want to visit my darling boy?"

"With one bag and two good dresses to your name?" Ezra asked.

When Maude opened her mouth to protest, he added, "Mother. You have a single bag. It is not large enough to hold more than one other dress and its accoutrements. Let's be honest with each other shall we; how bad is it? Are you just down on your luck or is someone coming after you?"

She frowned, the expression drawing her mouth tight and forming wrinkles at the corners of it. She avoided his eyes for a moment, and he spoke again.

"Mother, whichever it is, you know that I am going to help you. I simply need to know if I need to expect some unfortunate company," he said, gently.

She sighed, then gave a sharp nod, "There is no one coming after me. My luck turned sour in New Orleans two months ago. I had to sell most of my jewelry to satisfy the original debt that I incurred when it first soured. Since then I have been selling other things off, my clothing, luggage, whatever I could do without, trying to fund a comeback but my luck has remained sour. I am down to under twenty dollars. I don't dare gamble with that or try to run a 'game' until I have some indication that my luck has turned around."

Ezra knew that when she said 'game', that she meant a con and was glad that she hadn't tried to run one. If her luck truly had soured, trying to run a con was a sure way to end up in jail if not actually in prison.

Ezra gave her an understanding nod, "You are welcome to stay here as long as you need to get back on your feet. However, Vin and I will be out of town the weekend after this one for the poker tournament I mentioned."

She brightened, "Perhaps I could…?"

"Mother, the table stakes are a thousand dollars. I have my stake, but I do not have the money to loan you a stake, nor do I wish to have to face you at the tables. I am sorry, but I need that money as I have other obligations now." He paused then went on, "I have a game lined up with Peter Black and his friends for tomorrow night. I intend to win it. When I do, I will make arrangements to bet my winnings on myself to win the Bitter Creek tournament. I promise that I will give you at least half of what I win betting on myself to win the game. That way when I win the tournament we will both win. Mister Black and his friends have already informed me that they will not be participating in the tournament but will be betting on me to win. The last he heard the odds were thirty to one against me."

"Those are pretty long odds aren't they?" Vin asked.

Ezra shrugged, "It's been a while since I participated in a major tournament. The games in Red Bluff are the largest that I have played in since I arrived in Four Corners nearly three years ago. Most of the players that are coming to the game have been playing in tournaments regularly for the last few years. I'm something of a wild card. I've asked Peter and his friends to hold off on placing their bets for as long as possible…"

"So that folks won't have time to change their bets iffn they decide that might be Black and them know something that they don't," Vin finished for him.

"Exactly," Ezra said just as Chris joined them.

"Exactly what?" Chris asked.

"Ez is gonna bet on hisself ta win the Bitter Creek tourney but he's gonna wait til the last minute to place the bet and he's gonna ask Black and them ta wait too since they already said that they're betting on him."

Chris nodded, "Keep the odds high."

"Indeed, although, I intend for Vin to actually place the bet," Ezra said with a shrug. "It is considered unseemly for a player to bet on themselves to win under such circumstances."

Chris had locked the front door behind him when he came in, now they headed out the back, Ezra exiting through the kitchen door, locking it behind him while Vin and Chris exited through the hallway door, locking it.

As they waited for Ezra to catch up to them, Chris said quietly, "Black and Bellarosa talked to me about betting on Ezra to win in Bitter Creek. I'm going to check with the others and see if we can get up a couple of hundred dollars to bet on him. I didn't want to say anything in front of him because I wouldn't want him worrying about us losing money on him and it affecting his focus on the game."

"Don't think you got anything to worry about there. Ez seems ta 've really found his focus these last couple of weeks. You watch that game he's sitting in on tomorra. You'll see," Vin said with conviction.

"He'll see what?" Ezra asked as he joined them, walking shoulder to shoulder with them across the alley way to the boardinghouse. 

He and Vin held back a moment, letting Chris mount the steps up to the boardinghouse porch before them.

Vin smiled at Ezra, "He'll see just how good ya really are at poker," he said.

Chris just said, "I'll be at the game," then added, "Let's get my things on over to the saloon and turn in. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow. Travis wants to hold Hamilton's trial soon as we can round up a jury in the morning."

"An' Ez's game with Black and them is supposed ta start right after lunch," Vin added.

*******

Hamilton's trial didn't take long once they rounded up a jury the next morning.

Chris and Vin testified that the judge had told them that he had suspicions about Hamilton due to some business that he had conducted with the banker on behalf of a client. They further testified that they, along with Judge Travis, had stood as witnesses as Ezra Standish opened the safe after Hamilton had hastily departed Four Corners on Wednesday afternoon revealing the safe to be almost completely empty. They then testified that they had followed Hamilton to Eagle Bend where he bought a ticket on the stage to Ridge City, noting that there was a train due into Ridge City headed west for San Francisco that he would have been able to connect to.

They detailed the contents of the bag making it clear that Hamilton had been taking all the bank's assets with him. They pointed out that he had taken the ledger with him which meant that if they had not caught him that no one would have been able to determine exactly how much he had gotten away with. 

Ezra testified that he had opened the safe at the judge's request and that it had been found to be nearly empty, despite the fact that both James' and Royal's payrolls had come in on the stage and been placed in the bank that morning. He further testified that he had checked the returned money against the bank ledger and, with the exception of the money that Hamilton had spent renting a buggy from the livery and on his stage ticket, it was all there.

It was perhaps ironic that the thing that truly got Hamilton convicted was the fact that he had used bank money to rent the buggy he took to Eagle Bend and to buy his stage ticket. The jurors felt that using the bank's money for a personal expense was a clear indication that he had taken the money for himself.

Hamilton was convicted and sentenced to ten years in Yuma prison for bank robbery.

When the trial was over, Travis telegraphed the bank's board and informed them of what had occurred then oversaw while the head teller, attended to James' and Royal's withdrawal of their payrolls so that they could pay their men. 

Only the fact that the money had been returned even before most of the town knew that it was missing stopped a run on the bank. Travis made it clear that until a new manager could be hired and dispatched to Four Corners, that head teller, Michael Pierson would be in charge. Since most of the town knew and trusted Michael, things settled down fairly quickly.

*******

Maude tried to persuade Ezra to allow her to deal for the game with Mayor Black and his friends, but he refused, saying, "Mother, I cannot possibly allow you to deal. You are my mother. I intend to win this game and I do not want anyone to think that I had help from the dealer. We will take turns dealing as we usually do when we play together."

"I'm sure that it would be alright for your mother to deal if she'd like," Peter began only to have Ezra cut him off.

"Gentlemen, allow me to make something clear to you, my mother is the one that taught me everything I know about playing cards, including not only how to spot a cheat but how to cheat expertly enough to not get caught. Believe me, it would be best if she did not act as our dealer."

She huffed slightly then said, "Very well, Ezra. If I can't deal, perhaps I'll have Judge Travis show me the properties that he has purchased for Three Trees Investments. I really should be looking into that in any event."

"That sounds like a wonderful Idea, Mother. I'll leave you to it," Ezra said, giving her a light kiss on her cheek before taking his place in the prime seat at the table on the raised platform.

Judge Travis offered Maude his arm, saying, "Four of the properties are located down the side street beside the saloon. We can start there if you would like."

"That would be fine," Maude assured him.

They walked across the street and Travis showed her the empty storefront between the boardinghouse and Digger Dave's saloon. "I believe that Ezra intends for this to become the office for Three Trees Investments. He had mentioned that it would have to wait until they were ready to tell the rest of the town about their involvement, however if you are going to appear as the representative of Three Trees, it could be set up as your office. That way it would not be necessary to wait to furnish it and have a place to keep the company records."

Maude nodded, stepping into the empty building after he unlocked the door for her. She gazed around at the space. It was undivided, a simple square, without any furniture. The floor was dusty but other than that it appeared quite sound. There was no indication that it had any leaks in the ceiling or other structural faults. 

"It might be best if he built a wall across about halfway back. The front could be a reception area, with chairs for people to wait in. The actual office could be on one side of the back and a storeroom on the other side. It could look quite posh. With that in mind, I will have to see what kind of furnishings I can find," she said with a smile.

Travis nodded, escorting her back out. "The boardinghouse next door is the only going business among the properties that Three Trees has bought."

"What about the saloon?" she asked a bit puzzled. "It is certainly a going business, isn't it?"

"It is. However, Three Trees does not own the saloon. That is owned by The RTS Partnership."

"RTS partnership?"

"Rocillos, Tanner, Standish. Miss Rocillos owns fifty-two percent of the saloon. Your son and Mister Tanner each own twenty-four percent."

"I thought that Ezra was the majority owner," she said with a frown.

"He is the majority owner of Three Trees Investments. The Saloon is separate. All the other properties belong to Three Trees Investments. He owns forty percent of Three Trees and the other two own thirty percent each."

She stopped and looked at him in dismay, "But that means that they can out vote him if they choose to!"

"Ezra drew up the paperwork himself. He was the one that insisted that it be divided up the way it is. He wanted to divide it dead even but the other two refused since the money to fund Three Trees came from his poker winnings."

"His poker winnings? Just how much money has Ezra won?" she demanded. 

"He came back from Red Bluff with seventy-five hundred dollars to invest besides the thousand he needs for the Bitter Creek tournament."

"Eighty-five hundred total. It's been years since Ezra won that much money at one time!"

"He is determined to buy up as much of this town as possible," Travis said.

"And you don't object?"

Travis turned to her and regarded her seriously, "I'm not certain how I feel about it actually. It seems counter indicated that I would approve, yet everything that Ezra has spoken of doing here appears to be to the betterment of the town. I know that realistically he must intend to turn a profit but from what I've seen so far he is _not_ trying to make a killing. He has already agreed to sell one of the properties to Mister Jackson, allowing him to move his clinic to the ground floor so that people won't have to climb two flights of stairs to get to him. It will also give Nathan a decent home to take his bride-to-be to and give them enough land around that home to grow both food for their table and the medicinal herbs that Mister Jackson uses in his clinic. He gave Mister Jackson quite a good price on the property and agreed to take at least partial payment in medical services for himself, Miss Rocillos and Mister Tanner."

Maude gave a small laugh and shook her head. "I should have known. Ezra is a soft touch, always has been. His heart was never really in the game. He's always cared far too much. For some odd reason he has claimed this dusty little backwater as his and that means that he will take care of it."

"What do you mean?"

"My son can be very possessive, Mister Travis. What is his is *his* and Lord help anyone that tries to take it from him, or harm it in any way." She laughed softly, "The moment I walked into the saloon yesterday, he saw me, concluded that I was in some type of trouble, and immediately went from dutiful son to protective guardian. He's done the same thing with Miss Rocillos. She may never agree to marry him, but she will always be *his*, his to guard and protect and help in any way that she will allow. He's already recruited, if you will, you and your daughter-in-law as well as Misters Larabee, Tanner, Wilmington, and Jackson to aid in protecting her from the less open-minded of the townspeople. He has even recruited me to that end."

Travis looked thoughtful, "I wasn't aware that Mister Wilmington knew about Miss Rocillos' pregnancy."

"Ezra said that Inez told him yesterday evening when they were arranging the furniture in the house they bought."

Travis nodded, then said thoughtfully, "He has already begun surrounding her and himself with a wide variety of protectors for her. Mary and myself are among the most influential people in this town even if I do not actually live here. He has over half of the seven on their side and most of the people in town would prefer not to alienate the town's protectors."

"He intends to tell the rest of the seven and a few select others as well. He held a brief meeting with Miss Rocillos, Mister Tanner, Mister Larabee and myself before we retired last night."

"Who does he intend to tell besides Misters Dunne and Sanchez?"

"He specifically mentioned Missus Wells and her niece along with Missus Potter."

"The Wells are important to Sheriff Dunne," Travis said. "Ezra would want them on their side. Missus Potter has been a staunch supporter of the seven since they brought Lucas James in for killing her husband. Good choices."

"I can't help noting that you have taken to calling my son by his given name. From Ezra's letters I didn't realize you were that close."

"We've recently grown closer. I believe that he is becoming someone that I would be proud to know."

"I see," she said as he led her up the steps to the boardinghouse. Taking a deep breath and raising her chin she said, "Now, tell me about this boardinghouse."

*******

It was nearing midnight when the poker game between Ezra and his friends from Ridge City ended. As he had predicted he had won. What he hadn't expected was for the five men from the other town to suggest that they hold an even higher stakes game the next afternoon.

Peter Black stood up and putting his hands in the small of his back stretched out his back making it snap loudly. With a sigh he held out his hand to Ezra, "Well played, my friend. Too bad it was for such low stakes. How about giving us a chance to win some of our money back?"

"What do you have in mind?" Ezra asked, as he sorted and stacked the money he had won, separating it by denomination to make it easier to count.

"Well, with what you started with you should have three thousand dollars there. How about we play again tomorrow evening with two thousand dollars as table stakes? That'd leave you enough money to pay for the furniture that we brought over and still have a higher stakes game."

Ezra looked at him thoughtfully, " Six players, so whomever wins will walk away with ten thousand dollars more than they set down with. I seem to be riding a lucky streak, gentlemen. Are you sure that you want to risk losing that much money to me?"

"Your luck will turn sooner or later, Ezra," Tony said rising and coming to stand beside Peter, "and if it doesn't, we don't bet what we can't afford to lose. You're never going to see my haulage company on the table or Larry's hotel or James' Saloon, but the money," he shrugged, "we've got plenty of it and can always make more." 

"Well then, you are on, my good sirs… but I give you fair warning I intend to be ten thousand dollars richer tomorrow night."

"What will be, will be," James said, then added with a grin, "We expect to win more money than that each when we bet on you to win at Bitter Creek. If you continue to beat us here that just tells us that we are smart to stay out of the tourney and put our money on you."

"I must say that I am flattered by your faith in me."

"Most of the gamblers that we know for certain are coming to the tournament, have played against each of us at one time or another and we almost always won. When we play against you, you usually win, therefore the odds are good that you can take the other gamblers. We do indeed have confidence in you, Ezra," Peter said seriously. 

He grinned at Ezra, "Besides, we like you. Now that you are becoming a businessman to be reckoned with, we want you to join our Entrepreneur Club. Every one of us started our businesses using money that we won playing cards, so you'll fit right in." 

"Again I am flattered, but I would wish to discuss it with my partners as it seems that you are not inviting them to join…" he let his voice trail off in a question.

Peter, James and Larry exchanged glances then Peter said, "The club membership is based on the fact that at one time we all made our living at the poker table, since neither of your partners ever did that, we would have to change the club bylaws to invite them in."

"I will explain that to them. I doubt that it will be a problem. Vin is not the type to join any type of club much preferring solitude when not with another of the seven and Inez has the League of Businesswomen that she is a member of made up of the ladies in town who either own or run a business here. There are a surprisingly large number of them. She is also a member of the Sewing Circle and on the town event planning committee. Therefore my being a member of a club that she is not should not matter to her." 

"A Businesswoman's League? I've never heard of one of those," Peter said.

"I'm quite sure that the one here is the first ever. Missus Travis was annoyed that the Four Corners Businessman's Association refused to allow her to join and I may have suggested that given the number of women that owned or ran businesses here in town she might start her own association, creating an organization of women to help women start and run their own businesses. She took the idea and ran with it. Besides Missus Travis and Inez, Missus Potter of Potter's Mercantile is a member as are the three Everson sisters who run the Clothing Emporium. Missus Broadhurst from the Broadhurst's Boardinghouse is also a member at least she is until she leaves to go back east to care for her ailing sister. Although I have bought the boardinghouse, her oldest daughter is taking over as the manager. I believe I shall suggest that she join the Society."

"You're not upset that so many women own their own businesses here?" Tony asked.

Ezra laughed. "You've met my mother. I learned at an early age that if you wanted a problem well and truly dealt with, point a woman at it and turn her loose. Every single one of the businesses in this town that are owned by women are thriving, while every single business that failed leaving behind the buildings that I have bought, were run by men. That is why Inez is the manager for the saloon and will oversee the managers of the other businesses that we will be running. We are perfectly balanced. I finance. Inez manages. Vin either does the physical labor or oversees it."

The men were still standing on the raised platform, above them standing at the head of the stairs about to come down, Maude smiled to herself. It had been a long time since she had heard Ezra laugh like that, so free and happy. Her smile turned into a grin as she heard him say, 'point a woman at it and turn her loose.' His voice was smug and proud as if he knew a secret that no one else had figured out.

She remained at the head of the stairs, only stepping back into the shadows when the men below began moving away from the raised platform, making their way to the door, with Ezra following to close and lock the inside doors behind the swinging batwing doors.

Once they were gone and Ezra had turned back towards the stairs she stepped out into the light and descended the stairs.

"Ezra, darling, might I have a few moments of your time? I would like to speak to you about some of the properties that Three Trees has bought."

Ezra had his watch in his hand, having just checked the time. Clicking it shut he asked, "Where would you like to discuss this?"

"Perhaps your office would be best. The town map you drew is there. It will be easier to explain my ideas with the map to look at."

"Very well," Ezra said and led the way back to the office, lighting the lamp on the table and getting out the map. "Are you sure that this can't wait until tomorrow, Mother?"

"I'd rather speak to you before you move any more furniture into the house behind the saloon."

"Why?"

"Because I believe that it would be better if you, Vin and Inez moved into the old hotel rather than the house."

"I don't understand, why would we do that?"

"Let me explain what I am thinking, dear boy. First, since Mister Larabee has moved over here there are only three men left at Missus Broadhurst's Boardinghouse. If you can offer them alternative accommodations, you could turn Missus Broadhurst's into a boardinghouse strictly for proper young ladies. There are several young ladies, staying at the hotels that would prefer to stay at a boardinghouse, if they could find one that rented only to ladies."

"Alright but what has this to do with our taking the hotel for our home rather than the house?"

"Except for the hotel lobby, the first floor was living quarters for the family that owned the hotel and the maids. There are five large rooms on either side of the central hallway that divides the downstairs. This is more than enough rooms for you, Mister Tanner, Inez and her child when it is born. There are sixteen single rooms on the second floor and eight suites on third floor, each with a sitting room and a bedroom. You could let Mister Larabee, Mister Wilmington and Mister Dunne have a room or even two each, they would have more room than they do now, and you would still have plenty of rooms to rent out. Having five of the town's protectors directly across the street from Missus Broadhurst's would make the female tenants feel secure."

"I was thinking of turning the hotel into a casino."

Maude shook her head. "You don't want a casino that close to your home or to the boardinghouse."

"One would think that I would not want a saloon that close to my home either."

"You own the saloon. You can make changes if you want. Perhaps make it a social club rather than a straight saloon. I know that Inez serves breakfast, lunch and supper. You could gradually move away from serving breakfast, serve lunch with only beer on the menu and reserve the hard liquor for the evenings. You could still serve liquor and hold poker games but as a club you would have more control over who was allowed in."

"I really want a saloon."

"There are several other buildings that could be used as saloons that are much further from what will be your home."

"Which one would you recommend that we move the saloon to?"

Maude thought a moment then said, "The empty building between Virginia's Hotel and the bootmaker's. There are two hotels on that end of town and no saloon." 

"I'll think about it. What are you thinking of doing with the house if we are going to live in the old hotel?"

"A bunkhouse."

"Excuse me?"

"A bunkhouse, Ezra, do keep up. There are eight rooms downstairs and ten upstairs. You put two sets of bunkbeds in each of the upstairs rooms and four of the downstairs ones, reserving the other four rooms for whom ever you get to run it for you. You rent the beds rather than the rooms. Men only, cowhands passing through, ranch hands from the outlying ranches that come to town for a day or weekend and need a cheap place to sleep. You would need to have someone on the premises, awake and alert at all times to avoid trouble but you would have fifty-six beds. If you divide what a room would normally cost by four and charge that per bed, you would still make money. You would not, of course, be able to keep the bunkhouse full all the time but you have said yourself that there have been times when the town was so overrun that people were sleeping on the floors in the hotel rooms or even in the lobbies."

"How am I supposed to pay for someone to run the bunkhouse if it doesn't stay full?"

"Find someone that will work for room and board and a small salary. Someone who can do odd jobs on your other properties when the bunkhouse is pretty much empty." 

"I could use the bunkbeds idea for the hotel that we will be living in. The five suites on the floor that Chris, Buck and JD would be on could have two sets of bunkbeds per room and with the others there I could be sure that there would be little to no trouble. I could take my time having the bunkbeds built in the Bunkhouse and finding someone to manage it." 

He fell silent and sat thinking for a few minutes, before finally giving a sharp nod of his head. "Rafe Moseley. He is the last male tenant at Missus Broadhurst's. I could offer him one of the suites at our hotel. That would leave eight rooms for bunkbeds, making thirty-two beds to rent out. He gets by doing whatever odd jobs that he can find. I am sure that he would like something a bit more stable that what he currently has. He's lost his place at Missus Broadhurst's several times in the last year because he could not pay the rent."

Maude nodded, "Taking your time with the Bunkhouse is a good idea. Get the hotel set up for you and your partners, then move Misters Larabee, Wilmington, Dunne and Moseley out of the boardinghouse. That will allow you to recruit a full house of young ladies at Missus Broadhurst's and free up the rooms upstairs to rent out. This will give the three of you a good steady income."

"I will need to tell Peter that I am going to need more of the furniture that he bought at the auction, possibly even all of it." He paused gazing off into the distance then gave a sharp nod of his head. "You have given me a great deal to think about, Mother. I will discuss the matter with Vin and Inez on the morrow. Remind me also that we need to call a meeting of everyone that knows about Inez's pregnancy and those we intend to tell of that and about our owning Three Trees Investments."

"Of course, darling," Maude said with a smile.

As Ezra gave her a quick peck on the cheek and escorted her out of the office and back up the stairs to her room, she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she thought to herself, _Inez' pregnancy and the fact that the three of you own Three Trees Investments has to be the worst kept secret I have ever encountered in my entire life!_

*******

TBC


	12. 12

***********

Hello Everyone,

As you can see this is not chapter 12. It is a note explaining why Chapter 12 isn't up yet.

First let me say that there was a time when I would never post a story that was not complete. The reason for this is that I am not the kind of writer that plots out and outlines every detail of a story before I start writing then sticks to that outline. I have always started with a single scene in my head then just sat down and started writing, letting the story go where it wanted to. That's what I did when I originally wrote Tequila Sunrise for the Bingo challenge that it was an answer to. When I decided to expand it into a longer story after posting it here, I had no idea how long and complicated it would end up being and blithely went with what had always worked before.

Unfortunately Tequila Sunrise has grown to the point that not outlining and planning ahead is no longer working.

I have reached a point with this story where I am forgetting what I have already written and having to go back and re-read to make sure that I stay consistent with what is already written. I have also come to the realization that despite having written 75K+ words, less than half the story has been told. 

Therefore I decided that maybe I did need some sort of outline or a 'bible' for the story. So I did an outline, not greatly detailed just bare bones, but when I was finished I realized that for Inez to have the baby when I planned for her to, (the timing is important to the plot) then either she was going to end up being pregnant for approximately eleven months which would mean: 

1\. Either Lord Summerland was some kind of alien, (not going there).

2\. Inez was some kind of alien, (not going there, either).

3\. I was going to have to adjust the timeline. (The option I have chosen.)

This means that I have to move the events in the current chapters of Tequila Sunrise ahead two months, which means re-writing everything that I have already written.

The good news is that I have already re-written chapters 1-4 and am working on Chapter 5.

The bad news is that THIS VERSION of Tequila Sunrise can be considered abandoned. 

I am going to leave it up until after I finish re-writing and post the new version which will be posted under the Title: Tequila Sunrise: Re-write.

I hope you all aren't too upset. I believe that what I have gotten re-written is better than what I had originally. I'll leave this up for a while after I post the re-write as I hope you will compare the two and let me know what you think of the changes.

Thank you all again for sticking with me so far and I hope you will continue to read.

Marie AKA Starwinder


End file.
